From: Dave Thomas <Dave@...>
Date: 2002-03-16T01:29:33+09:00
Subject: Re: style question

Ron Jeffries <ronjeffries@REMOVEacm.org> writes:

> How do we feel about methods that return more than one result? It it OK? Is it a
> code smell indicating that some kind of object is trying to be born?

Sometimes the return value is a true tuple, so a tuple is appropriate.

Sometimes it's a set of values that meaningfully belong together, in
which case a class or a Struct seems like a good idea.

Sometimes its a status and a value. For me, this is always the hardest
call. But when I find it happening in unencapsulated methods, I tend
to take it as an indication that I really should be wrapping the method
in a class and having the class keep the state I need.


Cheers


Dave