Fields should not be part of an API, and therefore should always be private. Indeed, they cannot be added to an interface for instance, and
validation cannot be added later on without breaking backward compatibility. Instead, developers should encapsulate their fields into properties.
Explicit property getters and setters can be introduced for validation purposes or to smooth the transition to a newer system.
Noncompliant code example
Class Foo
Public Foo = 42 ' Noncompliant
End Class
Compliant solution
Class Foo
Public Property Foo = 42 ' Compliant
End Class
Exceptions
Shared and Const fields are ignored.
