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Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #33236
| From | Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.java.programmer |
| Subject | Re: Never using booleans as parameters |
| Date | 2015-11-30 00:08 +0000 |
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <n3g41b$1ep$1@dont-email.me> (permalink) |
| References | (2 earlier) <564f55e3$0$23775$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl> <n2o1vd$os2$1@dont-email.me> <565310cd$0$23766$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl> <9993c30e-bbd7-4a87-82c9-de208d61cf39@googlegroups.com> <n3fo5g$v8t$1@speranza.aioe.org> |
On Sun, 29 Nov 2015 15:45:39 -0500, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 11/23/2015 9:10 AM, Eric Douglas wrote:
>> 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)
>
> Documenting something like this is an indication of a problem in my
> opinion.
>
> Commenting about what the code does is usually a bad sign - good
> comments explains why the code is doing it.
>
>> 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.
>
> A good IDE solves many problems.
>
> But I don't like the idea of the readability of code being dependent on
> it.
>
> Arne
IMO well-written code *always* has a class-level comment saying what
functionality the class provides and method-level comments for every
method. The method-level comments say what the method does, what
parameters are passed to it and what they mean, what it returns and how
it indicates that errors have been detected.
IOW, if a system designer writes a class specification as a compilable
Java source file containing a class-level comment followed by public
constructor and method definitions, each being a comment as I've
described above followed by a skeleton method (completed header with the
body containing only the appropriate return statement), a coder can flesh
this out by adding the required code to the methods so that the class
fulfils its required functions as well as any additional private
attributes or methods that the class requires. The result is a functional
class that is also fully documented.
And, before you ask, yes I've used this approach for projects implemented
in both Java and C. It works. The only overhead is that the designers
*MUST* compile their module specifications to verify that the interfaces
they've specified form a consistent set.
I have little respect for any software architect who can't do this and
not much for any technical or project manager who doesn't require his
designers to work to this standard.
--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |
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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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