Which class instance's properties are set when using a getter and setter on a public instance to set a private instance of that class?

Question

I'm building a WPF application in C#, and i have a question about the way getters and setters for class instances and their properties work; given the following code:

public class SomeClass
{
    public int SomeProperty;
}

private SomeClass _anInstance;
public SomeClass anInstance
{
    get{ return _anInstance; }
    set
    {
        _anInstance = value;
    }
}

anInstance = new SomeClass();
anInstance.SomeProperty = 5;
int anInt = anInstance.SomeProperty;

I'd expect this code to create at least one instance of the SomeClass, then to assign 5 to _anInstance.SomeProperty, and then set anInt to the value of _anInstance.SomeProperty but i'm not sure if it's using anInstance.SomeProperty or _anInstance.SomeProperty.

Which one is being assigned to 5/used to set anInt, and, for future reference, how would i be able to find out/know?

Answer 1

how would i be able to find out/know?

Set breakpoints and step into your code. The debugger will show you where the execution currently is.

Your public property anInstance 's getters and setters just point to the private _anInstance field, and "redirect" reads and writes to that.

Answer 2

Since SomeClass is a Reference Type, anInstance is just a public reference to the same object _anInstance refers to. There is only one instance of SomeClass.