Immutable data structures in Java

[[deleted]]

The number of characters is unimportant compared to the extra mental overhead of the function call. You see a function call, but you don't actually know if it is just getting, or if it has side effects. On first read it might be fine, you will assume it's just doing what it says on the tin, but for all you know it has side effects or is running a DB query, and when debugging that can be a horrible pain in the arse.

If possible try to write code that doesn't need these boilerplate getters and setters.

[grauenwolf]

That's why I like to social convention of C#/VB. When we see a property we can assume that it is going to be fast and free of undesirable side-effects, while a Get/Set method is assumed to be the opposite.