Lazy loading - what's the best approach?

Question

I have seen numerous examples of lazy loading - what's your choice?

Given a model class for example:

public class Person
{
    private IList<Child> _children;
    public IList<Child> Children
    {
        get {
            if (_children == null)
                LoadChildren();
            return _children;
        }
    }
}

The Person class should not know anything about how it's children are loaded .... or should it? Surely it should control when properties are populated, or not?

Would you have a repository that couples a Person together with its children collection or would you use a different approach, such as using a lazyload class - even then, I don't want a lazyload class blurring in my model architecture.

How would you handle performance if first requesting a Person and then its Children (i.e. not lazy loading in this instance) or somehow lazy loading.

Does all this boil down to personal choice?

Answer 1

I just asked a related question here, but it was heavier on the Immutability & Thread Safety tack. Lots of good answers and comments. You may find it useful.