Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #5821

Re: StringBuilder Difficulties

From	Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.java.programmer
Subject	Re: StringBuilder Difficulties
Date	2011-07-02 12:58 +0200
Message-ID	<978bv1FnqaU1@mid.individual.net> (permalink)
References	(1 earlier) <irln07dveti624e71v8viderf0hjtudue5@4ax.com> <9744m8FpnhU3@mid.individual.net> <6cqp07tiug2nu8u6ififvvek1694fkpfi1@4ax.com> <976q3jF3etU2@mid.individual.net> <e9ps07h56utkftkp8fcarm7uhkk5t999le@4ax.com>

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On 07/02/2011 02:29 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
> On 1 Jul 2011 20:47:47 GMT, blmblm@myrealbox.com
> <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> In article<6cqp07tiug2nu8u6ififvvek1694fkpfi1@4ax.com>,
>> Gene Wirchenko<genew@ocis.net>  wrote:
>>> On 30 Jun 2011 20:30:00 GMT, blmblm@myrealbox.com
>>> <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>> [snip]
>>>
>>>> A general comment:  I'm inclined to agree with the people who are
>>>> saying that in general it seems like you're trying to write [name
>>>> of your favorite language] programs in Java, and in the long term
>>>> that seems less optimal than trying to grok the Java mindset.
>>>
>>>       My mindset is that I want to get my work done.  I do not care
>>> about the Java mindset except as it helps me get my work done.
>>
>> Yes, and if you were going to do a lot of programming in Java it
>> would seem to make sense to adapt to the local customs, so to speak.
>> Not to do so seems to me like fighting with your tools, which, well,
>> I do it too sometimes, but it does get in the way of getting stuff
>> done.
>
>       My tools include manyyears of experience programming.  I do not
> think that Java is such a precious snowflake -- the same is true of
> any language -- that I should have to throw all that experience away
> in order to use the language.

As far as I can see nobody asked you to do that.  If adjusting to a new 
language's mindset requires you to throw away everything you've learned 
so far then you probably better stick with the previous experience and 
tools.  That will be much more efficient and beneficial.

If, on the other hand, you want to use a new language then you typically 
get best results (or results at all) if you adjust to the environment 
you find.  You may have noticed that your issues with StringBuilder seem 
to be quite unique - others posting here do not seem to have those 
issues.  In my experience this is usually an indication that I am doing 
something wrong or haven't properly understood the new environment yet.

>>>> I think part of it may be struggling with the object-oriented
>>>> paradigm, but part of it may just be coming to terms with the fact
>>>
>>>       No, I am experienced with OOP.
>>
>> Huh.  Well, with all due respect ....
>>
>> I'd have said otherwise given that all of the variables and methods
>> in your TimingTesting program (the version I tried revising) seem
>> to be static (except the local variables).  I'm also puzzled by why
>> that program duplicates so much code, when you could have factored
>> out the parts that are different using objects-as-code-wrappers.
>> But maybe the O-O languages you've used before don't make you do
>> that, and adapting to that particular Java idiom seemed not worth
>> the trouble.
>
>       Oh, I asked about that.  One apparently can not pass a function
> pointer parameter as in C.  The ways that were posted involved lookup
> every time AFIACS and I judged that it might swamp what I was
> measuring (checking if a character were in a set).  So, to my chagrin,
> I had to go with cut-and-paste.

The usual solution in Java is to factor out an API into an interface and 
have several implementations of that interface.  See Callable for 
example - this basically encapsulates a "function" with no arguments and 
a single return value:

http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/Callable.html

In your TimingTesting program you could define a private interface like this

private interface Search {
   boolean search(char c);
}

Then you create inner classes

private final class SequentialSearch implements Search {
   @Override
   boolean search(char c) {
     for ( int i = 0; i < chars.length(); ++i ) {
       if (chars.charAt(i) == c) {
         return true;
       }
     }

     return false;
   }
}

public void parseSequentialSearch() {
   parse(new SequentialSearch());
}

private void parse(Search s) {
       int xScan=0;
       boolean fBuildingIdent=false;
       boolean fInIdentChars;
       String cIdent="";     // fussy init
       while (xScan<cParseString.length())
          {
          char CurrChar=cParseString.charAt(xScan);
          fInIdentChars=s.search(CurrChar);
...
}

etc.

This would be the _minimal_ refactoring to get what you want but you 
also need to switch from having all the state static in TimingTesting to 
instance.  Chances are that a more thorough refactoring yields a 
significantly better (in terms of OO and modularity) solution.

Btw, if you want to create a parser in Java then I recommend looking 
into ANTLR.  There is even a graphical UI (ANTLRWorks) which helps get 
results quickly and even has grammar debugging.  Cool stuff!

http://www.antlr.org/works/index.html

Cheers

	robert

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Thread

StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-06-28 17:54 -0700
  Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-06-28 21:29 -0400
    Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-06-29 00:48 -0400
      Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-06-29 12:19 -0700
    Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-06-29 12:11 -0700
      Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-06-29 22:06 -0400
  Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-06-29 20:17 +0000
    Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-06-29 18:55 -0700
      Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-06-30 20:30 +0000
        Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-30 14:17 -0700
          Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-06-30 21:36 -0400
            Re: StringBuilder Difficulties "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2011-07-01 01:41 -0400
        Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-06-30 14:26 -0700
          Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> - 2011-06-30 17:33 -0700
          Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-01 20:47 +0000
            Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-01 17:29 -0700
              Re: StringBuilder Difficulties rossum <rossum48@coldmail.com> - 2011-07-02 11:36 +0100
              Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2011-07-02 12:58 +0200
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-04 07:52 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2011-07-04 21:45 +0200
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-05 02:06 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties markspace <-@.> - 2011-07-05 09:32 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-05 14:13 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties markspace <-@.> - 2011-07-05 12:51 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Silvio <silvio@moc.com> - 2011-07-05 23:16 +0200
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties markspace <-@.> - 2011-07-05 15:08 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Silvio <silvio@moc.com> - 2011-07-06 09:41 +0200
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties "eye" <eye@mocka.com> - 2011-07-06 09:55 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties thoolen <thoolen@tholenbot.thorium> - 2011-07-06 05:37 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties "thoolen" <thoolen@tholenbot.thorium> - 2011-07-06 08:43 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties thoolen <thoolen@tholenbot.thorium> - 2011-07-06 22:30 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties "Stefan Robacki" <noemail@noemail.foobar> - 2011-07-06 00:04 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties thoolen <thoolen@tholenbot.thorium> - 2011-07-06 05:45 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties thoolen <thoolen@tholenbot.thorium> - 2011-07-06 08:26 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties thoolen <thoolen@tholenbot.thorium> - 2011-07-06 22:36 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties "tholen@antispam.ham" <tholen@ifa.hawaii.edu> - 2011-07-06 06:09 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 22:40 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties John Doe <jdoe@usenetlove.invalid> - 2011-07-14 06:50 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-14 02:58 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Jane Doe <jdoe@love.in.d.jungle.invalid> - 2011-07-14 10:20 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties thoolen <tholen01@gmail.com> - 2011-07-14 07:33 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Stanimir Stamenkov <s7an10@netscape.net> - 2011-07-05 23:44 +0300
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties markspace <-@.> - 2011-07-05 14:08 -0700
              Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 18:33 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-02 16:56 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 01:34 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-07-02 19:55 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-04 03:32 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-04 08:04 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 19:12 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-05 14:06 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 21:16 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-05 17:29 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 16:59 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 19:52 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-07-06 16:58 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 19:52 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 21:54 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 22:18 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 22:41 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-08 17:45 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 05:48 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 16:59 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-06 10:56 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-08 17:44 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-08 11:51 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-10 19:08 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-11 07:54 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-11 22:37 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-11 15:52 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 08:25 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 19:41 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 19:58 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 21:57 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 22:17 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 22:44 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Steve Erwin <trollHunter@Usenet.4.usenetizens.org.invalid> - 2011-07-07 12:51 +1000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-06 23:02 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties John Doe <jdoe@usenetlove.invalid> - 2011-07-14 06:32 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations <supercalifragilisticexpialadiamaticonormalizeringelimatisticantations@averylongandannoyingdomainname.com> - 2011-07-14 02:57 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Jane Doe <jdoe@love.in.d.jungle.invalid> - 2011-07-14 10:07 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties thoolen <tholen01@gmail.com> - 2011-07-14 07:24 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-04 07:58 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 19:09 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties KitKat <kitkat_11697@gmail.example.com> - 2011-07-05 15:15 -0400
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 20:03 +0000
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-07-05 14:11 -0700
                Re: StringBuilder Difficulties blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 16:55 +0000
      Re: StringBuilder Difficulties lewbloch <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 00:08 -0700
        Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2011-07-03 12:35 +0200
          Re: StringBuilder Difficulties lewbloch <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-07-04 04:07 -0700
  Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-29 14:38 -0700
    Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-06-29 15:00 -0700
      Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-29 15:52 -0700
        Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-06-29 18:58 -0700
          Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-29 19:26 -0700
          Re: StringBuilder Difficulties lewbloch <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 00:11 -0700
  Re: StringBuilder Difficulties Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-06-29 18:32 -0700

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