What is the difference between calling a dependent property of a class with and without parentheses?

Question

Say I have a class like such:

classdef exampleClass

    properties (Dependent=true)
        x
    end

    methods
        function this=exampleClass(this)
            this.x = 4;
        end

        function x=get.x(this)
            x=4;
        end
    end
end

What's the difference in accessing x as classInstance.x and classInstance.x()?

Answer 1

The function get.x(this) is called a getter of the property x. It actually has nothing to do whether the property has the attribute Dependent or not, it is the same for any type of property.

If you have a setter/getter defined for your property, Matlab will always call the function get.PropertyName or set.PropertyName when you do something like:

tmp_var = my_instance.x

or

my_instance.x = 3.1416;

So if you have in your code my_instance.x or my_instance.x() is practically the same. But if you want to follow best practices, you must avoid the function call.

Now, as an extra point: for performance reasons, it is recommended that you do not use setters/getters because every time you modify your property (even inside your class) you will pay the price of the overhead of the setter/getter.