using public variables in c++ classes (idea)

It should be noted that some progamming languages have managed to solve this ugly little issue. I'll use Ruby for the example. The solution entails:

1. Remove any form of public data members belonging to an object.
2. Make it unnecessary to use parentheses to call methods. This would be for infix-style languages.
3. Allow a "writer" (setter) method type. For example, named "bar=".

For example:

class Foo
    def initialize
        @bar = nil # Create a instance variable
    end
    def bar
        @bar # This is the accessor
    end
    def bar=(x)
        @bar = x # This is the writer
    end
end

foo = Foo.new
foo.bar # returns nil
foo.bar = 'blah' # calls "Foo#bar=", returns "blah"
foo.bar # returns "blah"

# This shortens to, for simplification when you need ONLY setting/getting...
class Foo
    def initialize
        @bar = nil
    end
    attr :bar # creates "Foo#bar" and "Foo#bar=" methods automatically
end

Given a more flexible language, doing full OOP is not painful. In a purely OO language (this case, utilizing the nonexistance of public variables), it won't be as ugly as the C++ hackery with foo.bar() and foo.set_bar(). (Remember, pointing out flaws, like non-full-OOP in favor of C backward compatibility, is not flamage.)