One method used in two classes

Question

Hi
I have one method in class A and I need to use it (only this method) in class B. what should I do? Should I create subclass within class A with this method, and then use it in class B or create completely different class C with only this method?
Thanks
waso

Answer 1

It's a good idea to use Java conventions about cAsE: especially since boolean and Boolean are different beasts.
So:
public class MyExample {
    public boolean example() {
        System.out.println("My example");
        return true;
}You use it in some other class B like this:
class B {
    void someMethod() {
        MyExample eg = new MyExample();
        boolean result = eg.example();
        System.out.println("example() returned " + result + " (as expected!)");
}There's no subclassing ("in" A or elsewhere).
This is a bit of a contrived example, because example() always returns the same thing. eg is initialised as an instance of MyExample but that class has no state so the method is effectively static. If MyExample had state and the method call did something genuine involving this state, then things would get interesting - and it is precisely then that subclassing, extracting someMethod() into some other class, or inlining it where it was used would make no sense.
Edited by: pbrockway2 on Jul 12, 2008 9:26 PM