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Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #24453
| From | Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.java.programmer |
| Subject | Re: About java program. |
| References | (5 earlier) <ILKdnZ-vg53OjiLMnZ2dnUVZ7tmdnZ2d@bt.com> <19wnriq53qxel.u9rt8wy6z52g.dlg@40tude.net> <kpnleo$7os$1@dont-email.me> <PlLvt.57919$hw2.43756@newsfe04.iad> <kpo2ch$h8j$1@dont-email.me> |
| Message-ID | <7u3wt.22047$N36.9643@newsfe27.iad> (permalink) |
| Organization | Public Usenet Newsgroup Access |
| Date | 2013-06-18 17:33 -0300 |
On 06/17/2013 07:30 PM, Eric Sosman wrote:
> On 6/17/2013 5:38 PM, Arved Sandstrom wrote:
>> On 06/17/2013 03:49 PM, Eric Sosman wrote:
>>> On 6/17/2013 2:32 PM, Joerg Meier wrote:
>>>> [...]
>>>> Personally, I found your example considerably harder to read than the
>>>> one
>>>> liner, as well as harder to read than what would have been my solution:
>>>>
>>>> private boolean askYesNoquestion (String str){
>>>> if(str.equals("yes"))
>>>> return true;
>>>>
>>>> return false;
>>>> }
>>>
>>> Or, for even greater clarity:
>>>
>>> private boolean askYesNoquestion(String str) {
>>> boolean yes;
>>> boolean no;
>>> if (str != null && str.equals("yes")) {
>>> yes = true;
>>> no = false;
>>> } else if (str != null && str.equals("no")) {
>>> no = true;
>>> yes = false;
>>> } else {
>>> yes = no = false;
>>> }
>>> return (no != true && yes != false) == true;
>>> }
>>>
>>> (If we put our minds to it, I bet we can turn the one-liner
>>> into an entire class hierarchy with runtime-selected plug-in
>>> provider implementations!)
>>>
>> We can joke about it, but the one-liner has problems, especially if not
>> wrapped in a method like Robert did. I've seen exactly that one-liner
>> cause dozens of defects over the past 15 years of me doing Java. Not all
>> programmers out there are superstars like all of us here in CLJP, in
>> fact 99 percent aren't. If they - not graced with our wisdom and keen
>> skills and perspicacity - decide to use that short form - they will
>> almost *never* wrap it in a method that constrains the type being
>> compared to, or does a null check if that's also unacceptable. In which
>> case sooner or later - sooner usually - lack of controls elsewhere in
>> the code, which is par for the course, will make that elegant little
>> snippet fail.
>
> "As simple as possible, no simpler." The observation that
> a simple construct can be misused -- a true observation -- does
> not mean that the cure is to add complexity. For one thing, the
> added bulk offers more opportunities for misuse.
>
> static int sum(int a, int b) {
> return a + b;
> }
>
> static int sum(int a, int b) {
> int total = a;
> total += b;
> return total;
> }
>
> static int sum(int a, int b) {
> assert Integer.MIN_VALUE <= a && a <= Integer.MAX_VALUE;
> assert Integer.MAX_VALUE >= b && b >= Integer.MAX_VALUE;
> Random rand = new Random();
> int total;
> do {
> total = rand.nextInt();
> } while (total - a != b);
> return total;
> }
>
> Seriously, there are very few reasons to add complexity, and
> many to reduce it. Complexity can (sometimes) make a needed
> performance improvement; complexity can (occasionally) provide a
> self-check or a debugging hook; complexity can (almost never)
> add clarity.
>
> (Truthfully, now: Did you spot the error above on first glance?)
>
I didn't spot the error at first glance until you said there might be
one and I went into code review mode. :-) Having said that, I'd shoot a
coder who also perpetrated that while condition. :-)
Those asserts are actually an example of poorly maintainable code, and
given the calibre of the average coder I'd rebuke the clever programmer
who felt he had to write that. His follow-on maintainers may not get it
completely.
Point being though, compactness is not always less complexity. It works
in some languages, not in others. In APL-like languages like J it's an
art form; in functional languages with powerful constructs it's often
natural too. In languages like Java, it may or may not be appropriate, IMO.
I often decide against method chaining in Java, for example, so that I
can break out the intermediate results and give them descriptive names.
This is if the methods are my own or part of the app under development,
I'm more willing to chain if the methods are part of a well-known and
established API.
I also don't much do complicated logic tests. Not that yours are overly
complex in your contrived example, but I wouldn't normally write that
way. The fact that it takes some careful study to spot the error is a
sign that maybe it's a maintenance problem waiting to happen.
That limits test is something that I might make a method actually. I do
something similar if I need to do a zero-closeness test for floating
points; I'll make that a carefully tested private utility method.
To recap, I don't think verbosity is always bad. I don't think that
unrolling stuff and avoiding cleverness is bad. I am in vehement
agreement with you that complexity almost never adds clarity; I dispute
in a friendly fashion that careful extra code checks are the kind of
complexity that is of concern. From a metrics standpoint, sure, there is
some addition of complexity, but not of the type that concerns me.
AHS
--
When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign:
that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
-- Jonathan Swift
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About java program. rajbhaumik@gmail.com - 2013-06-15 13:38 -0700
Re: About java program. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-06-15 16:50 -0400
Re: About java program. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2013-06-16 01:12 +0200
Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-16 14:21 +0100
Re: About java program. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2013-06-16 17:28 +0200
Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-16 19:52 +0100
Re: About java program. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-06-16 15:50 -0400
Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-17 09:36 +0100
Re: About java program. Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-06-17 09:49 -0300
Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-17 14:46 +0100
Re: About java program. Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-06-17 13:32 -0300
Re: About java program. Joerg Meier <joergmmeier@arcor.de> - 2013-06-17 20:32 +0200
Re: About java program. Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-06-17 14:49 -0400
Re: About java program. Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-06-17 18:38 -0300
Re: About java program. Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-06-17 18:30 -0400
Re: About java program. Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-06-18 17:33 -0300
Re: About java program. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-07-04 22:56 -0400
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Re: About java program. Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2013-06-19 16:20 -0700
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Re: About java program. Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2013-06-21 21:14 +0000
Re: About java program. Joerg Meier <joergmmeier@arcor.de> - 2013-06-21 23:37 +0200
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Re: About java program. Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2013-06-24 21:42 +0000
Re: About java program. Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-06-21 23:59 -0300
Re: About java program. Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2013-06-22 13:30 +0000
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Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-22 19:41 +0100
Re: About java program. Daniele Futtorovic <da.futt.news@laposte-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-06-23 03:53 +0200
Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-23 09:21 +0100
Re: About java program. Daniele Futtorovic <da.futt.news@laposte-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-06-24 18:57 +0200
Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-24 18:14 +0100
Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-22 09:03 +0100
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Re: About java program. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-07-04 22:58 -0400
Re: About java program. Joerg Meier <joergmmeier@arcor.de> - 2013-06-19 00:38 +0200
Re: About java program. Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-06-18 18:56 -0400
Re: About java program. Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2013-06-18 21:26 -0300
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Re: About java program. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2013-07-07 20:43 +0200
Re: About java program. Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-07-07 18:07 -0400
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Re: About java program. Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-07-07 20:42 -0400
Re: About java program. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2013-07-08 20:50 +0200
Re: About java program. Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2013-07-08 15:01 -0400
Re: About java program. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2013-07-08 23:29 +0200
Re: About java program. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-07-06 16:27 -0400
Re: About java program. Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2013-07-06 13:41 -0700
Re: About java program. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-07-05 21:59 -0400
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Re: About java program. Joshua Cranmer 🐧 <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2013-06-17 17:36 -0500
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Re: About java program. lipska the kat <"nospam at neversurrender dot co dot uk"> - 2013-06-19 08:36 +0100
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