Attributes

var, used inside concrete and abstract classes, declares attributes. Attributes require a static type and can possibly have an initial value (it may be any kind of expression, even including self)

class Foo
    var i: Int = 5
    fun dec(x: Int)
    do
        var k = self.i
        if k > x then self.i = k - x else self.i = 0
    end
end

Note that from an API point of view, there is no way to distinguish the read access of an attribute with a normal method neither to distinguish a write access of an attribute with a setter. Therefore, the read access of an attribute is called a getter while the write access is called a setter.

var x = foo.bar # Is bar an attribute or a method?
foo.bar = y # Is bar an attribute or a setter?
# In fact, we do not need to know.

Visibility of Attributes

By default, a getter is public and a setter is private. The visibility of getters can be precised with the private or protected keywords. The visibility of setters can be specified with an additional writable keyword.

class Foo
    var pub_pri: X
    protected var pro_pri: X
    var pub_pub: X is writable
    private var pri_pro: X is protected writable
    var pub_pri2: X is private writable # the default
end

Redefinition of Attributes

Getters and setters of attributes behave like genuine methods that can be inherited and redefined. Getters and setters can also redefine inherited methods. redef var declares that the getter is a redefinition while redef writable declares that the setter is a redefinition.

interface Foo
    fun derp: Int is abstract
    fun derp=(o: Int) is abstract
end
class Bar
    super Foo
    redef var derp: Int redef writable
end
class Baz
    super Bar
    redef fun derp do ...
    redef fun derp=(o) do ...
end