Struct like objects in Java

Use common sense really. If you have something like:

public class ScreenCoord2D{
    public int x;
    public int y;
}

Then there's little point in wrapping them up in getters and setters. You're never going to store an x, y coordinate in whole pixels any other way. Getters and setters will only slow you down.

On the other hand, with:

public class BankAccount{
    public int balance;
}

You might want to change the way a balance is calculated at some point in the future. This should really use getters and setters.

It's always preferable to know why you're applying good practice, so that you know when it's ok to bend the rules.

It appears that many Java people are not familiar with the Sun Java Coding Guidelines which say it is quite appropriate to use public instance variable when the class is essentially a "Struct", if Java supported "struct" (when there is no behavior).

People tend to think getters and setters are the Java way, as if they are at the heart of Java. This is not so. If you follow the Sun Java Coding Guidelines, using public instance variables in appropriate situations, you are actually writing better code than cluttering it with needless getters and setters.

Java Code Conventions from 1999 and still unchanged.

10.1 Providing Access to Instance and Class Variables

Don't make any instance or class variable public without good reason. Often, instance variables don't need to be explicitly set or gotten-often that happens as a side effect of method calls.

One example of appropriate public instance variables is the case where the class is essentially a data structure, with no behavior. In other words, if you would have used a struct instead of a class (if Java supported struct), then it's appropriate to make the class's instance variables public.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/documentation/codeconventions-137265.html#177

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_data_structure

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.3/docs/guide/collections/designfaq.html#28

This is a commonly discussed topic. The drawback of creating public fields in objects is that you have no control over the values that are set to it. In group projects where there are many programmers using the same code, it's important to avoid side effects. Besides, sometimes it's better to return a copy of field's object or transform it somehow etc. You can mock such methods in your tests. If you create a new class you might not see all possible actions. It's like defensive programming - someday getters and setters may be helpful, and it doesn't cost a lot to create/use them. So they are sometimes useful.

In practice, most fields have simple getters and setters. A possible solution would look like this:

public property String foo;   
a->Foo = b->Foo;

Update: It's highly unlikely that property support will be added in Java 7 or perhaps ever. Other JVM languages like Groovy, Scala, etc do support this feature now. - Alex Miller