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Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ?

From Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid>
Newsgroups comp.lang.java.help
Subject Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ?
Date 2012-08-14 08:45 -0400
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <k0dh99$erd$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References <502a4326$0$295$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>

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On 8/14/2012 8:23 AM, Timothy Madden wrote:
> Hello
>
> Is it just me or people tend to enumerate all the needed classes for a
> Java source file each in its own import line ?
>
> Why is it better to use:
>     import java.io.IOException
>     import java.io.FileNotFoundException
>     import java.io.FileOutputStream
>     import ...
> instead of just:
>     import java.io.*
> ?
>
> Which, by the way, also needs no maintenance in case a new class or
> exception is needed in the file at a later time.

     On the other hand, it *will* need maintenance if the next
Java release adds a java.io.Wotsit class, and your file already
has its own Wotsit.  Import them one by one and the new Wotsit
won't clash with yours; import them en masse and it will.

     The rest of the answer, I think, is that Somebody Somewhere
decided that it was "better style" to import individually than
by wildcard, and SS' opinion got codified into the out-of-the-box
settings for tools like Eclipse and NetBeans.  Bowing to SS' ideas,
these tools complain about wildcard imports, while at the same time
making it easy to generate the individual imports.  Most people
don't tinker much with the out-of-the-box settings, so the code they
create with these IDE's follow that style.

-- 
Eric Sosman
esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid

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Thread

Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Timothy Madden <terminatorul@gmail.com> - 2012-08-14 15:23 +0300
  Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-08-14 08:45 -0400
    Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-08-14 06:16 -0700
      Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-08-14 10:52 -0400
  Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-08-14 09:05 -0400
  Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-08-14 16:31 -0700
    Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Timothy Madden <terminatorul@gmail.com> - 2012-08-16 16:39 +0300
      Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-08-16 11:51 -0400
        Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Timothy Madden <terminatorul@gmail.com> - 2012-08-17 15:08 +0300
          Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-08-17 11:26 -0700
            Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-08-17 12:53 -0700
              Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-08-17 12:58 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-08-17 13:27 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Timothy Madden <terminatorul@gmail.com> - 2012-08-20 19:09 +0300
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-08-20 09:40 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Timothy Madden <terminatorul@gmail.com> - 2012-08-21 15:03 +0300
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-08-21 09:05 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-08-21 09:48 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-08-21 11:51 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-08-17 14:39 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-08-17 15:39 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-08-17 15:57 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2012-08-18 11:03 -0700
                Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-08-19 18:07 -0700
  Re: Why so many imports instead of java.io.* ? Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-08-14 17:46 -0700

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