Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #33185

Re: Never using booleans as parameters

Newsgroups	comp.lang.java.programmer
Date	2015-11-23 06:10 -0800
References	<87lh9tysy8.fsf@Equus.decebal.nl> <boolean-20151120181620@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de> <564f55e3$0$23775$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl> <n2o1vd$os2$1@dont-email.me> <565310cd$0$23766$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl>
Message-ID	<9993c30e-bbd7-4a87-82c9-de208d61cf39@googlegroups.com> (permalink)
Subject	Re: Never using booleans as parameters
From	Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com>

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On Monday, November 23, 2015 at 8:12:59 AM UTC-5, Silvio wrote:
> That same argument could be made for every parameter to every method 
> call. So instead of
> 
> y = x.substring(0,4)
> 
> I am supposed to write
> 
> {
> 	final int beginIndex = 0;
> 	final int endIndex = 4;
> 	y = x.substring(beginIndex,endIndex);
> }

You could do that, or write it with a comment as such, only if the meaning of the parameters would not be obvious to someone asked to maintain your code later.

// beginIndex (zero-based), endIndex
y = x.substring(0,4)

Of course they should already be able to figure out the parameters from the code complete if they edit this code with a proper IDE.  It would seem more important to make the parameters clear on the other end.  I can't recall offhand where the worst offenders are but I have had to work with APIs where the code complete for their methods shows nothing but (String arg0, String arg1).  It would appear someone at Google is correcting this, as one example I have where my IDE calls the parameters arg0 and arg1, the Javadoc on the web now calls them content and mediaContent.

Thread

Never using booleans as parameters Cecil Westerhof <Cecil@decebal.nl> - 2015-11-20 09:29 +0100
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-11-20 11:54 +0000
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-20 08:30 -0500
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com> - 2015-11-20 05:57 -0800
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-20 09:17 -0500
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com> - 2015-11-20 05:34 -0800
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Silvio <silvio@internet.com> - 2015-11-20 18:18 +0100
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-20 16:08 -0500
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Silvio <silvio@internet.com> - 2015-11-23 14:12 +0100
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Silvio <silvio@internet.com> - 2015-11-23 14:23 +0100
          Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-23 08:42 -0500
            Re: Never using booleans as parameters Silvio <silvio@internet.com> - 2015-11-23 15:14 +0100
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com> - 2015-11-23 06:10 -0800
          Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 15:45 -0500
            Re: Never using booleans as parameters Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-11-30 00:08 +0000
              Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 19:32 -0500
              Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 19:39 -0500
              Re: Never using booleans as parameters Brixomatic <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2015-12-20 15:08 +0100
                Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com> - 2015-12-21 05:00 -0800
                Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-12-21 08:53 -0500
            Re: Never using booleans as parameters Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-11-30 10:33 -0800
              Re: Never using booleans as parameters Jukka Lahtinen <jtfjdehf@hotmail.com.invalid> - 2015-12-02 15:51 +0200
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Kevin McMurtrie <mcmurtrie@pixelmemory.us> - 2015-11-23 21:55 -0800
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-24 08:23 -0500
          Re: Never using booleans as parameters Kevin McMurtrie <mcmurtrie@pixelmemory.us> - 2015-11-27 22:52 -0800
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 15:55 -0500
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters leif.roar@dimnakorr.com - 2015-11-20 11:44 -0600
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com> - 2015-11-20 10:08 -0800
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-22 14:03 -0500
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-11-20 10:14 -0800
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eternal Hope <laughingspam99@gmail.com> - 2015-11-22 14:27 +0000
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Kevin McMurtrie <mcmurtrie@pixelmemory.us> - 2015-11-20 20:13 -0800
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com> - 2015-11-23 04:59 -0800
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 15:53 -0500
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters galt_57@hotmail.com - 2015-11-22 09:02 -0800
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-22 12:20 -0500
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-22 12:41 -0500
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-11-22 18:06 +0000
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-11-25 14:21 -0800
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 15:58 -0500
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-11-30 10:39 -0800
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Brixomatic <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2015-11-29 16:40 +0100
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 16:00 -0500
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 19:26 -0500
          Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com> - 2015-11-30 06:16 -0800
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-22 14:01 -0500
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Fredrik Jonson <fredrik@jonson.org> - 2015-11-24 18:50 +0000
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Sir Hugh Jarce <hugh@example.com> - 2015-11-27 10:07 +0000
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 15:49 -0500
  Re: Never using booleans as parameters Brixomatic <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2015-11-29 16:33 +0100
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-11-29 15:57 -0500
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-11-29 16:01 -0500
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Brixomatic <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2015-12-20 15:00 +0100
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-12-21 10:50 -0800
    Re: Never using booleans as parameters Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-11-30 10:48 -0800
      Re: Never using booleans as parameters Brixomatic <brixomatic@yahoo.com> - 2015-12-20 15:44 +0100
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-12-21 10:56 -0800
        Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-12-21 15:30 -0500
          Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Douglas <e.d.programmer@gmail.com> - 2015-12-21 12:47 -0800
            Re: Never using booleans as parameters Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-12-21 16:29 -0500

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