Method access or field access

[carderne]

If I want to access a field in an object from another class, is it better to access the field directly, i.e. Object.field or should you rather do it with a method, i.e. Object.getField()

Which, by convention, is thought of as better?

[Fubarable]

It's better to use accessors and mutators as you'll have more control over access to the field.

[carderne]

Okay. And accessing a static field?

Another question: I have a class with an instance field and a static field. Is there any way that I can make an object of the class where any reference to the instance field automatically accesses the static field? Like a shortcut...