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  • S Super Lloyd

    Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

    public class FooDto
    {
    public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
    // ....
    public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
    }
    // ....
    class MyFooClass
    {
    private T1 property1;
    // ....
    private T24 property24;

    public FooDto ToDto()
    {
        return new FooDto()
        {
            Property1 = property1,
            //....
            Property24 = property24,
        };
    }
    

    }

    how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

    public class FooDto
    {
    public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
    {
    Property1 = value1;
    // .....
    Property24 = value24;
    }

    public T1 Property1 { get; }
    // ....
    public T24 Property24 { get; }
    }
    // ....
    class MyFooClass
    {
    private T1 property1;
    // ....
    private T24 property24;

    public FooDto ToDto()
    {
        return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
    }
    

    }

    In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

    A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

    D Offline
    D Offline
    Dan Neely
    wrote on last edited by
    #23

    Of the two choices given, I'd take 1; but would prefer a third option.:

    public class FooDto
    {
    public FooDto(MyFooClass foo)
    {
    Property1 = foo.property1;
    // .....
    Property24 = foo.property24;
    }

    public T1 Property1 { get; }
    // ....
    public T24 Property24 { get; }
    }
    // ....
    class MyFooClass
    {
    private T1 property1;
    // ....
    private T24 property24;
    }

    If for some reason I

    Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • S Super Lloyd

      Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

      public class FooDto
      {
      public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
      // ....
      public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
      }
      // ....
      class MyFooClass
      {
      private T1 property1;
      // ....
      private T24 property24;

      public FooDto ToDto()
      {
          return new FooDto()
          {
              Property1 = property1,
              //....
              Property24 = property24,
          };
      }
      

      }

      how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

      public class FooDto
      {
      public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
      {
      Property1 = value1;
      // .....
      Property24 = value24;
      }

      public T1 Property1 { get; }
      // ....
      public T24 Property24 { get; }
      }
      // ....
      class MyFooClass
      {
      private T1 property1;
      // ....
      private T24 property24;

      public FooDto ToDto()
      {
          return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
      }
      

      }

      In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

      A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

      F Offline
      F Offline
      Foothill
      wrote on last edited by
      #24

      If you really want to bake their noodle, put all the value maps in Attributes and then have the object built via Reflection such as in this article[^]. It's a super complicated way to do simple tasks :laugh:

      if (Object.DividedByZero == true) { Universe.Implode(); }

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • J Jacquers

        Option 1, but I do see the argument for option 2, especially if the properties are mandatory.

        R Offline
        R Offline
        realJSOP
        wrote on last edited by
        #25

        Of course, using reasonable defaults would prevent you from having runaway parameter lists for your constructors, and all you have to do is set the properties that need to be changed.

        ".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
        -----
        You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
        -----
        When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • S Super Lloyd

          Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

          public class FooDto
          {
          public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
          // ....
          public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
          }
          // ....
          class MyFooClass
          {
          private T1 property1;
          // ....
          private T24 property24;

          public FooDto ToDto()
          {
              return new FooDto()
              {
                  Property1 = property1,
                  //....
                  Property24 = property24,
              };
          }
          

          }

          how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

          public class FooDto
          {
          public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
          {
          Property1 = value1;
          // .....
          Property24 = value24;
          }

          public T1 Property1 { get; }
          // ....
          public T24 Property24 { get; }
          }
          // ....
          class MyFooClass
          {
          private T1 property1;
          // ....
          private T24 property24;

          public FooDto ToDto()
          {
              return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
          }
          

          }

          In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

          A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

          G Offline
          G Offline
          Gary Wheeler
          wrote on last edited by
          #26

          public class Foo
          {
          public class DTO
          {
          public T1 P1 { set; get; } = P1_default_value;
          ...
          public T24 P24 { set; get; } = P24_default_value;
          }

          public void In(DTO dto)
          {
          // Set _P* from dto.P*
          }

          public DTO Out()
          {
          DTO dto = new DTO();

          // set dto.P\* from \_P\*
          
          return dto;
          

          }

          private T1 _P1;
          ...
          private T24 _P24;
          }

          The DTO object constructs itself with a consistent default set of values. The DTO property accessors are responsible for maintaining consistency of that set. The In and Out methods of the Foo class manage its internal state based on accepting or producing a DTO, respectively. This approach lets you do things like this:

          Foo foo = new Foo();
          ...
          foo.In(new DTO() { P3 = Fred, P17 = Wilma; });
          Foo foo2 = new Foo();
          foo2.In(foo.Out());

          Software Zen: delete this;

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • S Super Lloyd

            Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

            public class FooDto
            {
            public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
            // ....
            public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
            }
            // ....
            class MyFooClass
            {
            private T1 property1;
            // ....
            private T24 property24;

            public FooDto ToDto()
            {
                return new FooDto()
                {
                    Property1 = property1,
                    //....
                    Property24 = property24,
                };
            }
            

            }

            how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

            public class FooDto
            {
            public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
            {
            Property1 = value1;
            // .....
            Property24 = value24;
            }

            public T1 Property1 { get; }
            // ....
            public T24 Property24 { get; }
            }
            // ....
            class MyFooClass
            {
            private T1 property1;
            // ....
            private T24 property24;

            public FooDto ToDto()
            {
                return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
            }
            

            }

            In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

            A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

            R Offline
            R Offline
            Rob Philpott
            wrote on last edited by
            #27

            So option 1 gives you simplicity, whereas option 2 gives you immutability. There are arguments for both, the immutability one being that one DTO can be safely shared by many things as none of them can alter it. With option 1, by rights you need to keep cloning the thing to prevent any badly behaved code messing up the 'master' copy. So there's a memory/performance trade off with all that. You often get that cloning for free through serialization mind. That said, when you wish to change one property on option 2, it becomes a screaming nightmare of reconstructing a new one with one difference in the constructor parameter list. We had option 2, but it was too much to stomach in the end.

            Regards, Rob Philpott.

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • S Super Lloyd

              Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

              public class FooDto
              {
              public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
              // ....
              public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
              }
              // ....
              class MyFooClass
              {
              private T1 property1;
              // ....
              private T24 property24;

              public FooDto ToDto()
              {
                  return new FooDto()
                  {
                      Property1 = property1,
                      //....
                      Property24 = property24,
                  };
              }
              

              }

              how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

              public class FooDto
              {
              public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
              {
              Property1 = value1;
              // .....
              Property24 = value24;
              }

              public T1 Property1 { get; }
              // ....
              public T24 Property24 { get; }
              }
              // ....
              class MyFooClass
              {
              private T1 property1;
              // ....
              private T24 property24;

              public FooDto ToDto()
              {
                  return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
              }
              

              }

              In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

              A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

              S Offline
              S Offline
              ScottM1
              wrote on last edited by
              #28

              Option 1

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • S Super Lloyd

                Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

                public class FooDto
                {
                public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
                // ....
                public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
                }
                // ....
                class MyFooClass
                {
                private T1 property1;
                // ....
                private T24 property24;

                public FooDto ToDto()
                {
                    return new FooDto()
                    {
                        Property1 = property1,
                        //....
                        Property24 = property24,
                    };
                }
                

                }

                how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

                public class FooDto
                {
                public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                {
                Property1 = value1;
                // .....
                Property24 = value24;
                }

                public T1 Property1 { get; }
                // ....
                public T24 Property24 { get; }
                }
                // ....
                class MyFooClass
                {
                private T1 property1;
                // ....
                private T24 property24;

                public FooDto ToDto()
                {
                    return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
                }
                

                }

                In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

                A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                Sander RosselS Offline
                Sander RosselS Offline
                Sander Rossel
                wrote on last edited by
                #29

                It depends. I use option 2 only for values that are absolutely necessary for the class to work (and that should never be 24 parameters, that's just bad design!). And option 2 is ideal for constructor injection in DI. Other than that, option 1.

                Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • S Super Lloyd

                  Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

                  public class FooDto
                  {
                  public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
                  // ....
                  public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
                  }
                  // ....
                  class MyFooClass
                  {
                  private T1 property1;
                  // ....
                  private T24 property24;

                  public FooDto ToDto()
                  {
                      return new FooDto()
                      {
                          Property1 = property1,
                          //....
                          Property24 = property24,
                      };
                  }
                  

                  }

                  how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

                  public class FooDto
                  {
                  public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                  {
                  Property1 = value1;
                  // .....
                  Property24 = value24;
                  }

                  public T1 Property1 { get; }
                  // ....
                  public T24 Property24 { get; }
                  }
                  // ....
                  class MyFooClass
                  {
                  private T1 property1;
                  // ....
                  private T24 property24;

                  public FooDto ToDto()
                  {
                      return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
                  }
                  

                  }

                  In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

                  A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                  D Offline
                  D Offline
                  DerekT P
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #30

                  Could you not just use inheritance and do away with all the property setting?

                  public class FooDto
                  {
                  public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                  {
                  Property1 = value1;
                  // .....
                  Property24 = value24;
                  }

                  public T1 Property1 { get; }
                  // ....
                  public T24 Property24 { get; }
                  }
                  // ....
                  class MyFooClass : FooDto
                  {
                  // ....
                  }

                  This exposes properties T1 ... T24 of the base FooDto class but that may or may not be an issue. There are arguments against combining DTOs and inheritance, so without knowing the details of your implementation this may not be appropriate. Part of "knowing the details" of course involves the use of a crystal ball to envisage future changes, but depending on the scenario you can pretty much rule out a lot of potential stuff and, in this case, save yourself a lot of code.

                  S 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • Z ZurdoDev

                    Super Lloyd wrote:

                    select your favourite of 2 options.

                    I prefer favorite.

                    Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it. Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.

                    H Offline
                    H Offline
                    Hooga Booga
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #31

                    Down-vote! :-)

                    Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • S Super Lloyd

                      Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

                      public class FooDto
                      {
                      public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
                      // ....
                      public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
                      }
                      // ....
                      class MyFooClass
                      {
                      private T1 property1;
                      // ....
                      private T24 property24;

                      public FooDto ToDto()
                      {
                          return new FooDto()
                          {
                              Property1 = property1,
                              //....
                              Property24 = property24,
                          };
                      }
                      

                      }

                      how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

                      public class FooDto
                      {
                      public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                      {
                      Property1 = value1;
                      // .....
                      Property24 = value24;
                      }

                      public T1 Property1 { get; }
                      // ....
                      public T24 Property24 { get; }
                      }
                      // ....
                      class MyFooClass
                      {
                      private T1 property1;
                      // ....
                      private T24 property24;

                      public FooDto ToDto()
                      {
                          return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
                      }
                      

                      }

                      In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

                      A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                      J Offline
                      J Offline
                      jhunley
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #32

                      Nobody seems to have yet mentioned any other alternatives...one would be passing in a structure with 24 members as an initializer, although in C# that doesn't really eliminate the problem, since you'd have a similar problem with how to initialize the structure. Might be useful tho if you instantiated a lot of these objects with mostly the same parameters. I would never condone instantiating a class without initializing all member data items, but if there are reasonable default values for them, I could see an initializer (or maybe even a few) that initialized all or most of them to default values, and only set one or two to non-default values. Don't ever want to leave values uninitialized, however. Of course, there are those who would say that any object that needs this many initializers is poorly designed and should be refactored. It would be up to the author in each individual case to decide if this is feasible. For my money, this makes a good case for a language feature I've been wanting ever since the days I worked with the ADA language - named parameter lists. Then you could offer default values for all parameters, and let the caller set only the ones (s)he wants to differ from the default values. Of course, you can emulate this now in C#, but it requires 2^n constructors. I've done it with three parameters (eight constructors), but of course it would be impractical with 24.

                      M 2 Replies Last reply
                      0
                      • S Super Lloyd

                        Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

                        public class FooDto
                        {
                        public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
                        // ....
                        public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
                        }
                        // ....
                        class MyFooClass
                        {
                        private T1 property1;
                        // ....
                        private T24 property24;

                        public FooDto ToDto()
                        {
                            return new FooDto()
                            {
                                Property1 = property1,
                                //....
                                Property24 = property24,
                            };
                        }
                        

                        }

                        how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

                        public class FooDto
                        {
                        public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                        {
                        Property1 = value1;
                        // .....
                        Property24 = value24;
                        }

                        public T1 Property1 { get; }
                        // ....
                        public T24 Property24 { get; }
                        }
                        // ....
                        class MyFooClass
                        {
                        private T1 property1;
                        // ....
                        private T24 property24;

                        public FooDto ToDto()
                        {
                            return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
                        }
                        

                        }

                        In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

                        A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                        B Offline
                        B Offline
                        Bruce Patin
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #33

                        I strongly prefer the code your prefer. Putting all of those properties as separate parameters of a method is something I was forced to do by someone who got his code from a glorious "whitepaper", and has resulted in hours added on to debugging when one of the parameters is wrong in some way, and has resulted in unnecessarily lengthy code calling those methods for every property even when only one or two properties need to be set.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • J jhunley

                          Nobody seems to have yet mentioned any other alternatives...one would be passing in a structure with 24 members as an initializer, although in C# that doesn't really eliminate the problem, since you'd have a similar problem with how to initialize the structure. Might be useful tho if you instantiated a lot of these objects with mostly the same parameters. I would never condone instantiating a class without initializing all member data items, but if there are reasonable default values for them, I could see an initializer (or maybe even a few) that initialized all or most of them to default values, and only set one or two to non-default values. Don't ever want to leave values uninitialized, however. Of course, there are those who would say that any object that needs this many initializers is poorly designed and should be refactored. It would be up to the author in each individual case to decide if this is feasible. For my money, this makes a good case for a language feature I've been wanting ever since the days I worked with the ADA language - named parameter lists. Then you could offer default values for all parameters, and let the caller set only the ones (s)he wants to differ from the default values. Of course, you can emulate this now in C#, but it requires 2^n constructors. I've done it with three parameters (eight constructors), but of course it would be impractical with 24.

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                          M Offline
                          michaelakin
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #34

                          Good ideas about the default values. And C# actually does have named parameters. So, if they all have default values, you could just pass in a few that need to be set. Named and Optional Arguments (C# Programming Guide) | Microsoft Docs

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • J jhunley

                            Nobody seems to have yet mentioned any other alternatives...one would be passing in a structure with 24 members as an initializer, although in C# that doesn't really eliminate the problem, since you'd have a similar problem with how to initialize the structure. Might be useful tho if you instantiated a lot of these objects with mostly the same parameters. I would never condone instantiating a class without initializing all member data items, but if there are reasonable default values for them, I could see an initializer (or maybe even a few) that initialized all or most of them to default values, and only set one or two to non-default values. Don't ever want to leave values uninitialized, however. Of course, there are those who would say that any object that needs this many initializers is poorly designed and should be refactored. It would be up to the author in each individual case to decide if this is feasible. For my money, this makes a good case for a language feature I've been wanting ever since the days I worked with the ADA language - named parameter lists. Then you could offer default values for all parameters, and let the caller set only the ones (s)he wants to differ from the default values. Of course, you can emulate this now in C#, but it requires 2^n constructors. I've done it with three parameters (eight constructors), but of course it would be impractical with 24.

                            M Offline
                            M Offline
                            michaelakin
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #35

                            Good ideas about the default values. And C# actually does have named paramaters. So, if they all have default values, you could just pass in a few that need to be set.

                            J 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • M michaelakin

                              Good ideas about the default values. And C# actually does have named paramaters. So, if they all have default values, you could just pass in a few that need to be set.

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              jhunley
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #36

                              Good to know that named parameters were actually implemented. At my job, we're still using VS 2008, so I wasn't aware that they had taken my advice!

                              M 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • S Super Lloyd

                                Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

                                public class FooDto
                                {
                                public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
                                // ....
                                public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
                                }
                                // ....
                                class MyFooClass
                                {
                                private T1 property1;
                                // ....
                                private T24 property24;

                                public FooDto ToDto()
                                {
                                    return new FooDto()
                                    {
                                        Property1 = property1,
                                        //....
                                        Property24 = property24,
                                    };
                                }
                                

                                }

                                how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

                                public class FooDto
                                {
                                public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                                {
                                Property1 = value1;
                                // .....
                                Property24 = value24;
                                }

                                public T1 Property1 { get; }
                                // ....
                                public T24 Property24 { get; }
                                }
                                // ....
                                class MyFooClass
                                {
                                private T1 property1;
                                // ....
                                private T24 property24;

                                public FooDto ToDto()
                                {
                                    return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
                                }
                                

                                }

                                In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

                                A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

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                                M Offline
                                michaelakin
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #37

                                You could propose an option 3, that has an object with all the items that need to be passed in. According to Martin Fowler, too many options passed into a constructor is a code smell.

                                Quote:

                                A large list of construction parameters, like any large parameter list, is a CodeSmell. Usually when I see these I find that many of the parameters are DataClumps and should be replaced by their own object. Having said that it's not unusual for constructor methods to have more parameters than other methods - but they are a good place to spot data clumps.

                                Martin Fowler - Constructor Initialization

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • J jhunley

                                  Good to know that named parameters were actually implemented. At my job, we're still using VS 2008, so I wasn't aware that they had taken my advice!

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                                  M Offline
                                  michaelakin
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #38

                                  :) You should really try and get them to update or you should go somewhere else. That sound ridiculous to still be using VS2008.

                                  J 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • M michaelakin

                                    :) You should really try and get them to update or you should go somewhere else. That sound ridiculous to still be using VS2008.

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    jhunley
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #39

                                    Yeah, I know. But it's about the only job available in my relatively small city, and I'm nearing retirement anyway, so I'm basically just playing out the clock...

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • D DerekT P

                                      Could you not just use inheritance and do away with all the property setting?

                                      public class FooDto
                                      {
                                      public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                                      {
                                      Property1 = value1;
                                      // .....
                                      Property24 = value24;
                                      }

                                      public T1 Property1 { get; }
                                      // ....
                                      public T24 Property24 { get; }
                                      }
                                      // ....
                                      class MyFooClass : FooDto
                                      {
                                      // ....
                                      }

                                      This exposes properties T1 ... T24 of the base FooDto class but that may or may not be an issue. There are arguments against combining DTOs and inheritance, so without knowing the details of your implementation this may not be appropriate. Part of "knowing the details" of course involves the use of a crystal ball to envisage future changes, but depending on the scenario you can pretty much rule out a lot of potential stuff and, in this case, save yourself a lot of code.

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                                      S Offline
                                      Super Lloyd
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #40

                                      Such a FoodDto is absolutely useless, a snapshot in time... There is little point in deriving from it... This FooDto sole purpose is to be turned into json and vice versa. It comes from an object that do update each individual property in real time (mostly hardware read status)

                                      A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                                      D 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • S Super Lloyd

                                        Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

                                        public class FooDto
                                        {
                                        public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
                                        // ....
                                        public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
                                        }
                                        // ....
                                        class MyFooClass
                                        {
                                        private T1 property1;
                                        // ....
                                        private T24 property24;

                                        public FooDto ToDto()
                                        {
                                            return new FooDto()
                                            {
                                                Property1 = property1,
                                                //....
                                                Property24 = property24,
                                            };
                                        }
                                        

                                        }

                                        how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

                                        public class FooDto
                                        {
                                        public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                                        {
                                        Property1 = value1;
                                        // .....
                                        Property24 = value24;
                                        }

                                        public T1 Property1 { get; }
                                        // ....
                                        public T24 Property24 { get; }
                                        }
                                        // ....
                                        class MyFooClass
                                        {
                                        private T1 property1;
                                        // ....
                                        private T24 property24;

                                        public FooDto ToDto()
                                        {
                                            return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
                                        }
                                        

                                        }

                                        In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

                                        A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                                        L Offline
                                        L Offline
                                        Leonardo Pessoa
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #41

                                        I believe there are reasons for either style and I don't mean a simple preference by the developer. The first style allows you to initialise an object with some default values and gradually fill its properties with desired non-default values. Also it allows you to change those values over time to reflect changes in how the class (or another dependent class) should behave. You can see that in any visual component for UWP/WPF/ASP.NET. Meanwhile, the second style creates a kind of immutable object (it can only be read although its properties can still be changed due to internal operations, if any). Changes to this data may not be desired due to e.g. the intended design of the application (or API) or legal reasons. If you must follow the second style with a class with so many constructor arguments (with which I agree it might be a code smell), I'd recommend creating a Builder for the object. MyFooClass in this example seems to be one which might actually hint at why the guy wanted you to change the code style; perhaps he thought you were trying to create in MyFooClass a Builder for FooDto and wanted you to make it so both classes don't repeat themselves. Anyway, I'd recommend approaching the guy with an open mind to try and understand his motivations for requesting the style change; it may either enhance your knowledge of the application or the guy you're working with. [UPDATED] Both Dan's or Marc's answers offer a great alternative to avoiding so many arguments on the constructor. I'd also check if you could go either way.

                                        - Leonardo

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • S Super Lloyd

                                          Yes it's a programming question, but wait a moment, I am NOT asking to solve any problem here, I am asking to select your favourite of 2 options. I think what they want me to do here at work is disgusting. I have to suck it up anyway, since it's the guy who accepts pull request that tells me to do it, period. But I am curious whether or not I am in good company with my prejudice. It's about DTO, constructors with zillion of parameters and all private properties. code I prefer and put in my pull request, with 24 properties (i.e large number of properties)

                                          public class FooDto
                                          {
                                          public T1 Property1 { get; set; }
                                          // ....
                                          public T24 Property24 { get; set; }
                                          }
                                          // ....
                                          class MyFooClass
                                          {
                                          private T1 property1;
                                          // ....
                                          private T24 property24;

                                          public FooDto ToDto()
                                          {
                                              return new FooDto()
                                              {
                                                  Property1 = property1,
                                                  //....
                                                  Property24 = property24,
                                              };
                                          }
                                          

                                          }

                                          how I have asked to rewrite the code, feels disgusting to me, but curious how many people share, or dislike, my opinion

                                          public class FooDto
                                          {
                                          public FooDto(T1 value1 /** 24 values later */, T24 value24)
                                          {
                                          Property1 = value1;
                                          // .....
                                          Property24 = value24;
                                          }

                                          public T1 Property1 { get; }
                                          // ....
                                          public T24 Property24 { get; }
                                          }
                                          // ....
                                          class MyFooClass
                                          {
                                          private T1 property1;
                                          // ....
                                          private T24 property24;

                                          public FooDto ToDto()
                                          {
                                              return new FooDto(property1 /\*\* \*/, property24);
                                          }
                                          

                                          }

                                          In his defence he has an argument. If someone use that DTO as well, the compiler will force them to initialise all values. Though one could counter argument that we got unit test for just that. At any rate, which of those 2 is your favourite code style?

                                          A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                                          L Offline
                                          L Offline
                                          Leng Vang
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #42

                                          I personally don't like either option. Why create two classes that duplicate the same information. I would create a property in MyFooClass to point to FooDto. Or better yet, inherent MyFooClass from FooDto.

                                          S 1 Reply Last reply
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