RE: Java Style Question

["Larry Loen" <lwloen@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>For your first question: In my own methods in C++ objects I change the
class
>variables directly inside the class rather than using my Get/Set methods.
>Primarily because it is easier to maintain because someone knows what I'm
>doing when I say:
>MyInt = MyVar;
>inside a method, but if I say:
>SetInt( MyVar );
>I'm going to wonder why I didn't just use the assignment and have a look
in
>SetInt just to see that it's only doing an assignment.

The question is a practical one -- are you likely to have MyVar be the
subject of some form of inheritance?  Will the apparent simple assignment
becomes something else in the child?  In that case, getters and setters are
mandetory.

If not, it is a question of clarity and maintainability.  In C++, if it is
a nonvirtual method, it is a completely stylistic choice since inlining can
be guaranteed.  Ditto in Java if the method can be made final.  Otherwise,
in either Java or C++, it is a little more complicated.  Performance would
favor the direct access with no inheritance in the picture.  At some point,
you are the domain expert and entitled to implement your methods' contracts
with speed, clarity, and common sense.

Now, in the exact example cited later on by the first note:

   public String rightJustify(String s, int length) {
    (insert your favorite code here)
   }

   and then

   public String rightJustify(String s) {
    return rightJustify(s,8);
   }


We aren't quite dealing with object-oriented code anyway, since "s" is
neither an instance variable or even a class local variable.  Both are, in
the end, procedural routines and all we're talking about is using
signatures in a fairly standard way that is what folks used to call "C++ as
a better C" (even in Java).  In other words, it is basically something
decided by the old-fashioned pre-object-oriented considerations.  It's a
valid technique and a benefit of the whole notion of "signatures" for
methods.


Larry W. Loen  -   Senior Linux, Java, and iSeries Performance Analyst
                          Dept HP4, Rochester MN