Changes for page Code Example: Data Structure Style vs. Object Style
Last modified by chrisby on 2024/03/03 17:01
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... ... @@ -1,30 +1,42 @@ 1 -as d1 +### Use Cases 2 2 3 -``` 4 -type Square struct { 5 - length float 6 -} 3 +This example is intended to demonstrate the extensibility differences between data structures and objects by extending them with 7 7 8 -type Circle struct { 9 - length float 10 -} 5 +1. an Area() function (extending behavior) 6 +1. a rectangle type (extending data type) 11 11 12 -func Area(g GeometricObject) float { 13 - switch (g.type()): 14 - case Circle: 15 - return 16 - case Square: 17 - return ... 18 -} 8 +### Data Structure Style 19 19 20 -func Circumference(g GeometricObject) float { 21 - ... 22 -} 23 -``` 10 + interface GeometricObject {} 11 + 12 + class Square implements GeometricObject { 13 + length float 14 + } 15 + 16 + class Circle implements GeometricObject { 17 + radius float 18 + } 19 + 20 + function Circumference(g GeometricObject) float { 21 + switch type(g): 22 + case Square: 23 + return 4 * g.length 24 + case Circle: 25 + return 2 * PI * g.radius 26 + } 24 24 28 +1. Adding an Area() function with a very similar anatomy to Circumference() is easy because it only requires adding new code. 29 +1. Adding a new datatype, Rectangle, is harder because it requires touching existing code, namely any functions like Circumference() or Area() that need to be enabled handle this datatype. 30 + 31 +#### 32 + 25 25 #### Object-Oriented Style 26 26 27 - class Square { 35 + interface GeometricObject { 36 + Circumference() float 37 + } 38 + 39 + class Square implements GeometricObject { 28 28 length float 29 29 30 30 constructor(length float) { ... ... @@ -31,16 +31,12 @@ 31 31 this.length = length 32 32 } 33 33 34 - func Area() float { 35 - return this.length * this.length 36 - } 37 - 38 38 func Circumference() float { 39 39 return 4 * this.length 40 40 } 41 41 } 42 42 43 - class Circle { 51 + class Circle implements GeometricObject { 44 44 radius float 45 45 46 46 constructor(radius float) { ... ... @@ -47,11 +47,15 @@ 47 47 this.radius = radius 48 48 } 49 49 50 - func Area() float { 51 - return PI * this.radius * this.radius 52 - } 53 - 54 54 func Circumference() float { 55 55 return 2 * PI * this.radius 56 56 } 57 57 } 62 + 63 +1. Adding a function Area() to the GeometricObject interface is hard because it requires touching existing code, namely extending all Square and Circle classes with the new function. 64 +1. Adding a new datatype, Rectangle, is easy because only new code is added, namely a Rectangle class. 65 + 66 +### Conclusion 67 + 68 +* The lesson here is that data structures are easy to extend with functions and hard to extend with data type, and objects are easy to extend with other objects but hard to extend with functionality. 69 +* Although the difference between the two styles may seem insignificant in this simplified example, it has serious implications in complex production codebases with multiple data types and behaviors.