title: Objective-C is @synthesize required or optional?
body: <p>sorry I'm a newbie iOS developer, recently I've briefly heard that @synthesize is now @synthesize in a certain version of Xcode and that the compiler will auto synthesize and properties and assign _ to private variables.</p>
  
  <p>I've tested this:</p>
  
  <p>with out @synthesize, you can access properties and private field using </p>
  
  <pre><code>self.property_name = something;
  _property_name = something; //(used in getter and setters)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>with @synthesize property_name, you can access properties and private field using </p>
  
  <pre><code>self.property_name = something;
  property_name = something;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My question is do we really need @synthesize anymore? or there is a bigger story I'm missing?</p>