[Python-Dev] Re: Where to put wrap_text()?

David Goodger goodger@users.sourceforge.net
Sat, 01 Jun 2002 20:30:26 -0400


Greg Ward wrote:
> [1] objects should *be*, not *do*, and class names like
>     HelpFormatter and TextWrapper are impositions of procedural
>     abstraction onto OOP.

I don't see anything dangerous about -er objects.  There are plenty
of objects in the real world that end in -er, all nouns: Programmer,
Bookkeeper, Publisher, Reader, Writer, Trucker, ad infinitum.
Plenty of precedent in the OOP world too: Debugger, Profiler,
Parser, TestLoader, SequenceMatcher, Visitor.  Objects combine state
(data) with behavior (processing); sometimes the state is most
important, sometimes the behavior.  Following that kind of
over-simplified "rule" may do more harm than good.

I'm glad you didn't fall for it.  ;-)

-- 
David Goodger  <goodger@users.sourceforge.net>  Open-source projects:
  - Python Docutils: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/
    (includes reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html)
  - The Go Tools Project: http://gotools.sourceforge.net/