> 
> **Possible Duplicate:**  
> 
> [When are Getters and Setters Justified](https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/21802/when-are-getters-and-setters-justified)  
> 
> [Why are public and private accessors considered good practice?](https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/120497/why-are-public-and-private-accessors-considered-good-practice) 
> 
> 
> 

In my time as developer I learned that properties can be very useful. I use properties to control read and write access or to add something like validation checks.

But assuming that I have an auto property with a public getter and setter.

```
public string LastName { get; set; }

```

In that case I don't see any point in using properties over fields.

I could also do following:

```
public string LastName;

```

Is there anything that speaks against a public field in this case? 
Why should I use a property?