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From: behrends@cse.msu.edu (Reimer Behrends)
Subject: Re: Software landmines (loops)
Date: 1998/10/15
Message-ID: <slrn72bafc.16n.behrends@allegro.cse.msu.edu>#1/1
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Organization: Michigan State University
Newsgroups: comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.lang.ada
Date: 1998-10-15T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

Graham Perkins (gperkins@dmu.ac.uk) wrote:
[...]
> Also we often find "main program" which consists of a single procedure
> call, and many individual procedures which consist of nothing but
> two or three parameter-less procedure calls.
> 
> We try to reform such people before they graduate!!  But many
> slip through.

Well, I hope so. :) An abstraction (procedure or class) is a good
abstraction because it embodies a useful concept, not because it saves
space.

	void f() { g(); }

is a perfectly legitimate construct, with the obvious benefit that
you can at any time change the implementation of f() from g() to h()
without affecting the code that uses it.

Imagine for instance the case of writing an anonymous mailer, where
you want to eliminate all uses of the "From" address and replace it
by a dummy. (Say, for anonymous feedback in a class.) Now, if there
is a uniform function

	string from_address() { return user_name(); }

then you can just change this single function. However, if user_name()
were used all over the place, making the change is anything but
pleasant.

(Extra points for spotting the reference and noticing that it is
anything but fictitious.)

[...]

				Reimer Behrends