Last modified by chrisby on 2024/03/03 17:01

From version 2.4
edited by chrisby
on 2024/03/03 14:45
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To version 3.8
edited by chrisby
on 2024/03/03 15:34
Change comment: There is no comment for this version

Summary

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... ... @@ -1,28 +1,42 @@
1 +### Use Cases
2 +
3 +This example is intended to demonstrate the extensibility differences between data structures and objects by extending them with
4 +
5 +1. an Area() function (extending behavior)
6 +1. a rectangle type (extending data type)
7 +
1 1  ### Data Structure Style
2 2  
3 - type Square struct {
10 + interface GeometricObject {}
11 +
12 + class Square implements GeometricObject {
4 4   length float
5 5   }
6 6  
7 - type Circle struct {
8 - length float
16 + class Circle implements GeometricObject {
17 + radius float
9 9   }
10 10  
11 - func Area(g GeometricObject) float {
12 - switch (g.type()):
13 - case Circle:
14 - return
20 + function Circumference(g GeometricObject) float {
21 + switch type(g):
15 15   case Square:
16 - return ...
23 + return 4 * g.length
24 + case Circle:
25 + return 2 * PI * g.radius
17 17   }
18 -
19 - func Circumference(g GeometricObject) float {
20 - ...
21 - }
22 22  
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 +
23 23  #### Object-Oriented Style
24 24  
25 - class Square {
35 + interface GeometricObject {
36 + Circumference() float
37 + }
38 +
39 + class Square implements GeometricObject {
26 26   length float
27 27  
28 28   constructor(length float) {
... ... @@ -29,16 +29,12 @@
29 29   this.length = length
30 30   }
31 31  
32 - func Area() float {
33 - return this.length * this.length
34 - }
35 -
36 36   func Circumference() float {
37 37   return 4 * this.length
38 38   }
39 39   }
40 40  
41 - class Circle {
51 + class Circle implements GeometricObject {
42 42   radius float
43 43  
44 44   constructor(radius float) {
... ... @@ -45,11 +45,15 @@
45 45   this.radius = radius
46 46   }
47 47  
48 - func Area() float {
49 - return PI * this.radius * this.radius
50 - }
51 -
52 52   func Circumference() float {
53 53   return 2 * PI * this.radius
54 54   }
55 55   }
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 learned here is that data structures are easy to extend with functions, and objects are easy to extend with data types.
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.