Really nooB question - @property

[Eric via Digitalmars-d-learn]

> Use @property when you want a pseudo-variable or something that 
> might be conceptually considered a "property" of the object, 
> i.e. to do this:
>
> auto blah = thing.someProperty;
> thing.someProperty = blahblah;
>

This is basically what I suspected.  But why
write:

@property int getValue() { return(value); }

When you could just have a public field:

int value;

That lets you set and get the value without the parens anyways?

thanks,

Eric