cómo java afecta nuestros diseños

agile software development & services

La Influencia de Java en

Nuestra Manera de Pensar

Hernán Wilkinson

Twitter: @HernanWilkinson

Blog: objectmodels.blogspot.com

www.10pines.com

The world “we live” in … ?

Bret Victor - Thinking the unthinkable

Language <-> Thinking

What we can not talk about…

we can not think about

(or it is difficult...)

Do not Insist on English

Aimara: Pasado y Futuro

(nayra) (qhipa)

What is the relationship with Programming Languages?

(K. Iverson: “Notation as a tool of thought”

1979 ACM Turing Award)

If a programming language does not allow me to “TALK”

(write) about certain things

…

Then I can not THINK about certain

solutions

Let’s seeList<Customer> selectedCustomers = new ArrayList<Customer> ();

for (Customer customer: customers)

if (customer.nameStarsWith(“H”))

selectedCustomers.add (customer);

return selectedCustomers;






List<Account> selectedAccounts = new ArrayList<Account> ();

for (Account account: accounts)

if (account.isOverdraw())

selectedAccounts.add(account);

return selectedAccount;











What is the problem?

We have repeated code!List<Customer> selectedCustomers = new ArrayList<Customer> ();










Code != Text

How do we remove it?

Technique:

1. “Contextualize-Copy” the repeated code to some “place”

2. Parameterize what changes

3. NAME IT!!!

4. Use it :-)

class Collection<T> {

public Collection<T> <<NAME>> (?) {

List<T> selected = new ArrayList<T> ();

for (T anObject: this )

if ( )

selected.add (anObject);

return selected: }

this

Copy the repeated code to some placeList<Customer> selectedCustomers =

new ArrayList<Customer> ();



selectedCustomers.add(customer);


List<Account> selectedAccounts = new

ArrayList<Account> ();





Parameterize what changes

List<Customer> selectedCustomers = new ArrayList<Customer> ();










How do we do it?

An object that represents “code”


public Collection<T> <<NAME>> (Closure aClosure) {



if ( )


return selected: }

this

Copy the repeated code to some placeList<Customer> selectedCustomers =












aClosure.execute(anObject)


public Collection<T> select (Closure aClosure) {



if ( )


return selected: }

self

NAME IT!List<Customer> selectedCustomers =












aClosure.execute(anObject)

The most difficult part because it means that we understood the repeated code

meaning

List<Customer> selectedCustomers = new ArrayList<Customer> ();










cutomers.select( customer -> customer.nameStartsWith(“H”) )

accounts.select( account -> account.isOverdraw() )

customers.select( new Condition<Customer> () {

public boolean value (Customer aCustomer) {

return aCustomer.nameStartsWith(“H”); }});

cutomers.select( customer -> customber.nameStartsWith(“H”) )

Why not an Anonymous Class?

1. Sintax:

Which one reads better?

2. Binding problems…

What did we gain?

1. Few words Simplicity, Easier to

understand, read, remember, etc. Less bugs!

2. We created a new “abstraction”: select (filter in Java 8)

3. … and we removed duplicated code!!

Now… let’s do some reflection

1. Why didn’t we see the “duplicated code”?

2. Why didn’t we came with a solution?

Why didn’t we see the “duplicated code”

1. Because we are use to that code (is the programming language the problem or us?)

2. Because there is no “concept” to remove it

Why didn’t we came with a solution?

1. Because the programming language does not provide us with a “concept” to think about a solution!

self

should: [ do something ]

raise: Exception

withExceptionDo: [ :e | self assert: …. ] (Smallalk)

TDD: Test for exceptions

Try {

… do something

fail()

} catch (Exception e) {

assertTrue (…. ) }

…and much much more….

Imagine how your designs would be if

you could use closures

You can create your own control flow “sintax”

Further reading: LAMBDA The Ultimate…

Meta-Conclusion

Object = ¿Data + Code?

Meta-Conclusion

Object = ¿Data + Code?

If you think so, you don´t understand OO yet

Mete-Conclusion

Data is an Object

Code is an Object

An Object is a “superior” concept that unifies data and

code

Hamming / Closure

If there are certain objects that can not be created in some languages …

… and given the solutions provided by some programming languages…

The statement: “There are design solutions that are unthinkable in some

programming languages”

¿Does it surprise you?

Java 8

aList.forEach( ... )

aList.stream().filter( ... )

aList.stream().map( ... )

etc

Lambda != Closure

Examples:

What is the problem?

No If!


1. Why didn’t we see the “polymorphic message”?

2. Why didn’t we came with a right solution?

Why did we not see the

“polymorphic message”?

Because 'if' as a reserved word is a “primitive construction”, there is nothing behind it

Therefore it does not make us think in polymorphism

If as a message

A programming language is its creator's state of knowledge

timeToRun

How do we “generalize” it?

timeToRun

LambdaHelper??

timeToRun

Extending a Language!

How can we add specific behavior to an object?

Let's see an example


1. What are the solutions we lack due to limited meta programming?

2. What do we loose if we do not have a meta-circular language?

How do we learn a new word?

Do we:

1. Stop our brain

2. “edit" a new definition in our dictionary

3. “Compile” the new definition

4. Restart our brain?

NO!!

Why do we have to do it with our programs?

Can our programs “change while running”?

Can our programs “learn” as we learn?

Yes, they can!... If they are

METACIRCULAR

Apply

Eval

Let’s see a problem:

Can you make a proxy “learn” about its proxee as it is used?

If we don’t have meta-circular languages, then we can not think about solutions that are natural in

our daily lives!!

Let’s think again…

Are these concepts new?

Lisp

John McCarthy

Alan Kay

“We must know our historyif we don’t want to reinvent… not only the tire, but a a flat tire”

And more…

Classes are modules

Static is not OO

Misleading words:

this

extends

Unnecessary implementation complexity

filter, map, etc.

Conclusions

Do not accept languages without Closures

Do not accept languages without good meta-programming

Create your own extensions!

Liberate yourself from the programming language

Conclusions

Learn other programming languages

Lisp/Scheme

Smalltalk

Forth and more...

Learn our history

"The Humble Programmer”

E. Dijkstra

“The tools we are trying to use and the language or notation we are using to express or record our thoughts, are the major factors determining what we can think or express at all!"

"Java and C++ make you think that the new ideas are like the old ones. Java is the most distressing thing to hit computing since MS-DOS.“

Alan Kay

Questions?

agile software development & services

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twitter: @10Pines

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cómo java afecta nuestros diseños

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