Functional vs. Object oriented API

[David M Chess]

> Roy Smith <roy at panix.com> 

> As part of our initial interview screen, we give applicants some small 
> coding problems to do.  One of the things we see a lot is what you could 

> call "Java code smell".  This is our clue that the person is really a 
> Java hacker at heart who just dabbles in Python but isn't really fluent. 
 
> ...
> It's not just LongVerboseFunctionNamesInCamelCase().  Nor is it code 
> that looks like somebody bought the Gang of Four patterns book and is 
> trying to get their money's worth out of the investment.  The real dead 
> giveaway is when they write classes which contain a single static method 

> and nothing else.

I may have some lingering Java smell myself, although I've been working 
mostly in Python lately, but my reaction here is that's really I don't 
know "BASIC smell" or something; a class that contains a single static 
method and nothing else isn't wonderful Java design style either.

> That being said, I've noticed in my own coding, it's far more often that 

> I start out writing some functions and later regret not having initially 

> made it a class, than the other way around.  That's as true in my C++ 
> code as it is in my Python.

Definitely.

> Once you start having state (i.e. data) and behavior (i.e. functions) in 

> the same thought, then you need a class.  If you find yourself passing 
> the same bunch of variables around to multiple functions, that's a hint 
> that maybe there's a class struggling to be written.

And I think equally to the point, even if you have only data, or only 
functions, right now, if the thing in question has that thing-like feel to 
it :) you will probably find yourself with both before you're done, so you 
might as well make it a class now...

DC

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