The question this time is very clear, my friends... which way is faster? Direct access or getters/setters paradigm? How much is the gain in speed if it is at all? Please know that I do not mind making public everything that needs to be it since I make no mystery of my code and.. well it is even unlikely that someone else is going to use it sometime.. since I know this kind of concern to be one of the cornerstones of the getter-setter-blackbox thing...