Is it good exapmple of encapsulation in C# ? Or should i use public set; get;?

Question

I want to write a person class. I am not sure when should I use public set on a property.

In the following example, should I use public set on Name property ?

class Person
{
    public string Name { get; private set; }
    public DateTime DateOfBirth { get; private set; }
    public Person[] Parents 
    { 
        get { return (Person[])Parents.Clone(); }
        private set { Parents = value; } 
    }

    public Person(string Name, DateTime DateOfBirth, Person[] parents=null)
    {
        this.Name = Name;
        this.DateOfBirth = DateOfBirth;
        Parents = parents;
    }
}

Answer 1

If you want to able to change the property from a code which relies outside the class - yes.

class program
{
    public void main()
    {
       Person p = new Person("New Born", DateTime.Now());
       :
       :
       p.Name="John";
    }
}

However, if the name should never change from the outside and only from within the class code - no.

As a general guideline:

If the property setter is public,
- You usually don't need to add a constructor parameter to force setting it.

If you do wish for some reason to force setting it,
- it probably don't need to be public.

But that's just a general guideline - not a "strong" rule.