MATLAB: Class definition: is it necessary to define properties as struct

attributesclassdefooppropertiesstruct

Hi all,
I'm new to OOP in MATLAB. When defining properties in a class, shall I define them as constants or as a struct? For example, explicitly:
classdef myClass < handle
    properties 
        a
        b
        c
    end
    methods
        function obj = myClass(a, b, c)
          obj.a = a;
          obj.b = b;
          obj.c = c
        end
end
or as struct
classdef myClass < handle
      properties
          prop
      end
      methods
          function obj = myClass(a, b, c)
              obj.prop.a = a;
              obj.prop.b = b;
              obj.prop.c = c;
          end
end
The first way allows me to define attributes, such as private, public, etc. But if there are lots of properties, this way is too long.
The second way I will only be able to define attributes for the entire 'prop', I cannot only define prop.a as private but prop.b and prop.c as public, but the second way seems very neat.
What do you usually do and why?
Thank you!

Best Answer

The whole point of a class is that it is an extended and far better version of a struct (apart from performance-wise). Properties of a class are analagous to fields of a struct. Think of your class as a replacement for the struct, not something to combine with it.
With good OOP design you should never have a single class that has so many properties you have trouble typing them out anyway.
I have never yet used a struct inside a class as it defeats the purpose. The properties of a class are visible, the fields of a struct could be anything.
Related Question