Is this class a builder? - oop

Thanks to this class:
https://github.com/WebPajooh/TeleBot/blob/master/src/InlineKeyboard.php
I can build keyboards step by step:
$keyboard = new InlineKeyboard()
->addCallbackButton('Start', 'start_callback')
->addCallbackButton('Help', 'help_callback')
->addUrlButton('FAQ', 'https://example.com/faq')
->get();
The output of get() method is an object encoded by json_encode().
My question is:
Can we consider this class a builder?
If answer is no, why?
Its output is not an object, but a string; does it mean that it is not implementing builder pattern?

As wiki says:
The builder pattern is a design pattern designed to provide a flexible
solution to various object creation problems in object-oriented
programming
As your code creates InlineKeyboard with some buttons such as urlButton and etc, then it looks like it is Builder pattern.
In addition, Fluent interface pattern can be seen here as there are chainable methods such as:
->addCallbackButton('Start', 'start_callback')
->addCallbackButton('Help', 'help_callback')
->addUrlButton('FAQ', 'https://example.com/faq')
->get()

Related

Returning a custom type

I have access to a library, but I don't want to fork the code and maintain the library, because I am too new to Kotlin.
The code looks like this:
data class Foo<out T: Baz>(val foos: ..., bars: ...)
I can call methods from the library to get back a Foo, but I need that Foo to implement Serializable from java.io. I asked someone how might I do this, and they suggested that I extend from the data class. Is this the right course of action, and if so, how might one go about it?
In Kotlin you can't make class implement interface which it doesn't implement (unlike Haskell and Go).
Sore your options are folowing:
Create your own class implementing Serializable which has all the same fields as basic. Then you can even create constructor in new class which accepts basic class as argument
Use another way of serialization, for example kotlinx.serialization

Check if a class implements an interface at run-time

Say FrameworkA consumes a FrameworkA.StandardLogger class for logging. I want to replace the logging library by another one (the SuperLogger class).
To make that possible, there are interfaces: FrameworkA will provide a FrameworkA.Logger interface that other libraries have to implement.
But what if other libraries don't implement that interface? FrameworkA might be a not popular enough framework to make SuperLogger care about its interface.
Possible solutions are:
have a standardized interface (defined by standards like JSR, PSR, ...)
write adapters
What if there is no standardized interface, and you want to avoid the pain of writing useless adapters if classes are compatible?
Couldn't there be another solution to ensure a class meets a contract, but at runtime?
Imagine (very simple implementation in pseudo-code):
namespace FrameworkA;
interface Logger {
void log(message);
}
namespace SuperLoggingLibrary;
class SupperLogger {
void log(message) {
// ...
}
}
SupperLogger is compatible with Logger if only it implemented Logger interface. But instead of having a "hard-dependency" to FrameworkA.Logger, its public "interface" (or signature) could be verified at runtime:
// Something verify that SupperLogger implements Logger at run-time
Logger logger = new SupperLogger();
// setLogger() expect Logger, all works
myFrameworkAConfiguration.setLogger(logger);
In the fake scenario, I expect the Logger logger = new SupperLogger() to fail at run-time if the class is not compatible with the interface, but to succeed if it is.
Would that be a valid thing in OOP? If yes, does it exist in any language? If no, why is it not valid?
My question stands for statically-typed languages (Java, ...) or dynamically typed languages (PHP, ...).
For PHP & al: I know when there is no type-check you can use any object you want even if it doesn't implement the interface, but I'd be interested in something that actually checks that the object complies with the interface.
This is called duck typing, a concept that you will find in Ruby ("it walks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, it must be a duck")
In other dynamically typed languages you can simulate it, for example in PHP with method_exists. In statically typed languages there might be workarounds with reflection, a search for "duck typing +language" will help to find them.
This is more of a statically typed issue than a OOP one. Both Java and Ruby are OO languages, but Java woudlnt allow what you want (as its statically typed) but Ruby would (as its dynamically typed).
From a statically typed language point of view one of the major (if not the major) advantage is knowing at compile time if an assignment is safe and valid. What you're looking for is provided by dynamically typed languages (such as Ruby), but isnt possible in a statically typed language - and this is by design (compile time safety).
You can, but it is ugly, do something like (in Java):
Object objLogger = new SupperLogger();
Logger logger = (Logger)objLogger;
This would pass at compile time but would fail at runtime if the assignment was invalid.
That said, the above is pretty ugly and isnt something I would do - it doesnt give you much and risks an unpleasant (and possibly suprising) exception at runtime.
I guess the best you could hope for in a language like Java would be to abstract the creation away from where you want to use it:
Logger logger = getLogger();
With the internals of getLogger deciding what to return. This however just defers the actual creation to further down - you'll still have to do so in a statically typed safe way.

"Abstract" methods in Yii Behaviors

I've been developing Yii application. And I'm wondering if it's possible to declare in model behavior some kind of "abstract" method. I know that it impossible to use directly following declaration:
abstract class FantasticBehavior extends CActiveRecordBehavior
{
public abstract function doSomethingFantastic();
}
because we need an instanse of this class. But also I know that Yii is full magic:)
I just want to make owner class to redeclare method from the behavior in obligatory order. Sure, I can use interface in addition to behavior but ...
Sorry if I've missed something to tell or something is not clear. Just ask and I'll try to explain what I mean.
Does anybody know something about this?
Thanks in advance.
UPD
I do understand that Yii is just PHP. It doesn't extend PHP. It is superstructure over it. And it doesn't have multiple inheritance since PHP doesn't.
I do understand behavior method can't be declared using abstract keyword. That is why I have written word "abstract" in quotes. But whatever. I know how behaviors work.
My question was if I can somehow oblige model(e.g. child of CActiveRecord) to declare some method.
For example, for my purposes I can do something like this:
class FantasticBehavior extends CActiveRecordBehavior
{
public function doFantasticThings()
{
$this->owner->prepareForFantastic();
// some code
}
}
Therefore, if I attach this behavior to my model and call method doFantasticThings this method will try to call method prepareForFantastic from model(owner). And if model doesn't have method prepareForFantastic declared new exception will be thrown because non-declared method are called.
Looks like I've answered my question myself :) What do you think about this?
UPD2
Yes, I know that if we don't call "abstract" method we won't know that it is not declared. It is a "charm" of interpretable languages :) We don't know if there is any error untill the code is run. Although, it would awesome if we could know about this as earlier as possible. For example, once instance of FantasticBehavior-class is attached to the model we could throw some child of CException to show what required methods must be declared in model. To achive this we can use something like listed below:
class FantasticBehavior extends CActiveRecordBehavior
{
public function attach($owner)
{
if(!/*$owner has declared methods list this->abstractMethods*/)
{
throw new CAbstractMethodNotDecalared('....');
}
parent::attach($owner);
}
public function abstractMethods()
{
return array('prepareForFantastic');
}
}
We need to override method attach from class CBehavior and check if "abstract" methods declared. Method abstractMethods is used to get list "abstract" method.
I don't know if there is attachBehavior event exists. If so, we can use it instead of overriding attach method.
Using this idea Base class for behaviors with "abstract" methods.
What do you think about this?
Maybe in future I'll make extention for Yii and become famous and rich? :))
This might be a little confusing to explain...
No, you cannot "attach" abstract methods to your CActiveRecord model using Yii's Behaviors. All Behavior's do is some clever overrides of __call(), __get() and __set() that give the illusion of multiple inheritance. (This is a good article about it). Behaviors do not provide true "multiple inheritance" support for core language features like abstract classes and interfaces. So if you attach that Behavior and add doSomethingFantastic() to your CActiveRecord class, you will still get an error.
You can, of course, declare abstract Behaviors that other Behaviors extend. So if you created another SuperFantasticBehavior Behavior that extended FantasticBehavior and implemented doSomethingFantastic() in it, you'll be fine. But it won't force you to declare the doSomethingFantastic() method in the CActiveRecord itself.
For a little deeper understanding: The way Yii's CComponent::_call() override is structured, when you call a method it will first see if any of the behaviors have that method, and call the method on the class itself.
Behavior's seem cool at first (mixins!), but sometimes it's just better to remember that PHP is a single class inheritance language and keep is simple. ;)
UPDATE:
The difference is that if you could use abstract methods in this case you'd see a "Class must implement method" error when you try to run your code (any code), and your IDE would highlight the error. This is more of a "compile" time error (not that it really exists in an interpreted lang like PHP).
Instead you'll see a "non-declared method" error (as you mention) at runtime. But you won't see it until that method is actually called, meaning you don't get that nice early warning like an abstract definition would give you. And if that method is never called, you won't get the error, which to means it's not really "obliging" the declaration in the same way an abstract def would.
Sorry if my initial answer was starting out at too basic of a level, I just wanted to be sure there was no misunderstanding. It's an interesting discussion, and made me think more about what an abstract declaration really does. Thanks, and happy coding! :)
Cheers

Is it bad practice for a class to have only static fields and methods?

I have a class that consists only of static member variables and static methods. Essentially, it is serving as a general-purpose utility class.
Is it bad practice for a class to contain only static member variables and static methods?
No, I don't think so at all. It is worse practice to have a class full of instance methods which don't actually depend on a particular instance. Making them static tells the user exactly how they are intended to be used. Additionally, you avoid unnecessary instantiations this way.
EDIT: As an afterthought, in general I think its nice to avoid using language features "just because", or because you think that that is the "Java way to do it". I recall my first job where I had a class full of static utility methods and one of the senior programmers told me that I wasn't fully harnessing the OO power of Java by making all of my methods "global". She was not on the team 6 months later.
As long as the class has no internal state and is essentially what is known as a leaf class (utility classes fall into this category), in other words it is independent of other classes. It is fine.
The Math class being a prime example.
Sounds reasonable.
Note: Classes that do this often have a private no-arg constructor just so that the compiler yields an error if a programmer tries to create an instance of the static class.
Static methods don't worry me much (except for testing).
In general, static members are a concern. For example, what if your app is clustered? What about start-up time -- what kind of initialization is taking place? For a consideration of these issues and more, check out this article by Gilad Bracha.
It's perfectly reasonable. In fact, in C# you can define a class with the static keyword specifically for this purpose.
Just don't get carried away with it. Notice that the java.lang.Math class is only about math functions. You might also have a StringUtilities class which contains common string-handling functions which aren't in the standard API, for example. But if your class is named Utilities, for example, that's a hint that you might want to split it up.
Note also that Java specifically introduced the static import: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_import)
Static import is a feature introduced
in the Java programming language that
members (fields and methods) defined
in a class as public static to be used
in Java code without specifying the
class in which the field is defined.
This feature was introduced into the
language in version 5.0.
The feature provides a typesafe
mechanism to include constants into
code without having to reference the
class that originally defined the
field. It also helps to deprecate the
practice of creating a constant
interface: an interface that only
defines constants then writing a class
implementing that interface, which is
considered an inappropriate use of
interfaces[1].
The mechanism can be used to reference
individual members of a class:
import static java.lang.Math.PI;
import static java.lang.Math.pow;
or all the static members of a class:
import static java.lang.Math.*;
While I agree with the sentiment that it sounds like a reasonable solution (as others have already stated), one thing you may want to consider is, from a design standpoint, why do you have a class just for "utility" purposes. Are those functionals truly general across the entire system, or are they really related to some specific class of objects within your architecture.
As long as you have thought about that, I see no problem with your solution.
The Collections class in Java SDK has static members only.
So, there you go, as long as you have proper justification -- its not a bad design
Utility methods are often placed in classes with only static methods (like StringUtils.) Global constants are also placed in their own class so that they can be imported by the rest of the code (public final static attributes.)
Both uses are quite common and have private default constructors to prevent them from being instantiated. Declaring the class final prevents the mistake of trying to override static methods.
If by static member variables you did not mean global constants, you might want to place the methods accessing those variables in a class of their own. In that case, could you eleborate on what those variables do in your code?
This is typically how utility classes are designed and there is nothing wrong about it. Famous examples include o.a.c.l.StringUtils, o.a.c.d.DbUtils, o.s.w.b.ServletRequestUtils, etc.
According to a rigid interpretation of Object Oriented Design, a utility class is something to be avoided.
The problem is that if you follow a rigid interpretation then you would need to force your class into some sort object in order to accomplish many things.
Even the Java designers make utility classes (java.lang.Math comes to mind)
Your options are:
double distance = Math.sqrt(x*x + y*y); //using static utility class
vs:
RootCalculator mySquareRooter = new SquareRootCalculator();
mySquareRooter.setValueToRoot(x*x + y*y);
double distance;
try{
distance = mySquareRooter.getRoot();
}
catch InvalidParameterException ......yadda yadda yadda.
Even if we were to avoid the verbose method, we could still end up with:
Mathemetician myMathD00d = new Mathemetician()
double distance = myMathD00d.sqrt(...);
in this instance, .sqrt() is still static, so what would the point be in creating the object in the first place?
The answer is, create utility classes when your other option would be to create some sort of artificial "Worker" class that has no or little use for instance variables.
This link http://java.dzone.com/articles/why-static-bad-and-how-avoid seems to go against most of the answers here. Even if it contains no member variables (i.e. no state), a static class can still be a bad idea because it cannot be mocked or extended (subclassed), so it is defeating some of the principles of OO
I wouldn't be concerned over a utility class containing static methods.
However, static members are essentially global data and should be avoided. They may be acceptable if they are used for caching results of the static methods and such, but if they are used as "real" data that may lead to all kinds of problems, such as hidden dependencies and difficulties to set up tests.
From TSLint’s docs:
Users who come from a Java-style OO language may wrap their utility functions in an extra class, instead of putting them at the top level.
The best way is to use a constant, like this:
export const Util = {
print (data: string): void {
console.log(data)
}
}
Examples of incorrect code for this rule:
class EmptyClass {}
class ConstructorOnly {
constructor() {
foo();
}
}
// Use an object instead:
class StaticOnly {
static version = 42;
static hello() {
console.log('Hello, world!');
}
}
Examples of correct code for this rule:
class EmptyClass extends SuperClass {}
class ParameterProperties {
constructor(public name: string) {}
}
const StaticOnly = {
version: 42,
hello() {
console.log('Hello, world!');
},
};

How do you name your "reference" implementations of an interface?

My question is rather simple and the title states it perfectly: How do you name your "reference" or "basic" implementations of an interface? I saw some naming conventions:
FooBarImpl
DefaultFooBar
BasicFooBar
What do you use? What are the pros and cons? And where do you put those "reference" implementations? Currently i create an .impl package where the implementations go. More complex implementations which may contain multiple classes go into a .impl.complex package, where "complex" is a short name describing the implementation.
Thank you,
Malax
I wonder if your question reflects the customs of a particular language. I write in C#, and I typically don't have "default" implementation. I have an interface, say IDistance, and each implementation has a name that describes its actual purpose / how it is specific, say, EuclidianDistance, ManhattanDistance... In my opinion, "default" is not a property of the implementation itself, but of its context: the application could have a service/method called "GetDefaultDistance", which would be configured to return one of the distance implementations.
In Java, (whenever suitable) I typically use a nested class called RefImpl. This way for a given interface InterfaceXYZ, the reference implementation is always InterfaceXYZ.RefImpl and there is no need to fumble around making up effectively redundant names.
public interface InterfaceXYZ {
// interface methods ...
public static class RefImpl implements InterfaceXYZ {
// interface method impls.
}
}
And then have a uniform usage pattern:
// some where else
public void foo () {
InterfaceXYZ anXYZ = new InterfaceXYZ.RefImpl();
...
}
I asked a previous question about a "null" implementation and it was identified as the null object pattern - an implementation of an interface that does nothing meaningful. Like Mathias, I'm not too sure what would be considered a "default" implementation that didn't have some kind of name specific to its implementation.
If the interface is a RazmaFrazzer, I'd call the implementation a DefaultRazmaFrazzer.
If you've already got several implementations and you've marked one of them out as a "default" look at all the implementations and look at the differences between them and come up with an adjective that describes the distinguishing feature of the default implementation e.g. SimpleRazmaFrazzer, or if it's a converter, you might have PassThroughDefaultRazmaFrazzer - so you're looking for whatever makes the implementation distinctive.
The exact convention doesn't metter - be it IService + Service or Service + ServiceImpl. The point is to be consistent throughout the whole project.