Re: Mixing OO and DB

From: Robert Martin <unclebob_at_objectmentor.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 16:32:43 -0600
Message-ID: <2008030816324343658-unclebob_at_objectmentorcom>


On 2008-03-06 16:05:47 -0600, Gene Wirchenko <genew_at_ocis.net> said:

> Robert Martin <unclebob_at_objectmentor.com> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>

>> A function should be no longer than five or ten lines of code.  This is
>> about as obvious and self-evident as it can be.  Are you really going
>> to argue that functions should be longer?

>
> Hmm. It used to be a page. Attention spans are getting shorter?
It used to be: "No longer than a screenful". Average size would be
considerably less. That rule was invented when a "screenful" was the number of lines on a VT100 -- 24. And four of them were used by the editor for administrative purposes. So, 20 lines as a maximum.
>
> Of course I am going to argue against such ridiculously low
> limits. Some functions are longer. Splitting them up into small
> pieces can make them much harder to follow.

It can also make them much easier to follow if you do a good job.

>
> I have had cases of snippets, that if I were to convert them to
> functions, what with all of the context that I would have to pass and
> handle, that the calling sequence (setup, call, wrapup) could be
> longer than the snippet. That way lies madness.

Holding contexts like that is what objects are for. If you have lots of local variables in a function that make it hard to split the function up, it means you need a new class.

-- 
Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob)  | email: unclebob_at_objectmentor.com
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Received on Sat Mar 08 2008 - 23:32:43 CET

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