Getter and Setter?

You can use php magic methods __get and __set.

<?php
class MyClass {
  private $firstField;
  private $secondField;

  public function __get($property) {
    if (property_exists($this, $property)) {
      return $this->$property;
    }
  }

  public function __set($property, $value) {
    if (property_exists($this, $property)) {
      $this->$property = $value;
    }

    return $this;
  }
}
?>

Why use getters and setters?

1. Scalability: It's easier refactor a getter than search all the var assignments in a project code.
2. Debugging: You can put breakpoints at setters and getters.
3. Cleaner: Magic functions are not good solution for writting less, your IDE will not suggest the code. Better use templates for fast-writting getters.

Google already published a guide on optimization of PHP and the conclusion was:

No getter and setter Optimizing PHP

And no, you must not use magic methods. For PHP, Magic Method are evil. Why?

1. They are hard to debug.
2. There is a negative performance impact.
3. They require writing more code.

PHP is not Java, C++, or C#. PHP is different and plays with different roles.