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Managing different types of input
Hello,
Suppose there is an API with a class that calculates the area of an arbitrary polygon.
The API is going to be used from several programs. But every program has different objects to store the coordinates of a polygon.
How can this API manage all the different inputs? For example programA stores the coordinates as ArrayList<Point2d> and programB stores them in a different structure.
Thanks.
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Re: Managing different types of input
If there are an infinite number of different inputs, the API cannot be responsible for managing that. A solution would be to force standardization from the program using this API.
For example, create a class named Coordinate or something in the API and make the method accept an ArrayList<Coordinate>. Then make every program convert their list of objects into the a list of Coordinate objects before calling a method.
Now, if all of the objects sent as input extend from a common parent class who has the functionality you need for the method, you can just accept an ArrayList<[some-parent-class]>, and no conversion would be necessary.
You'll have to give us a better idea of how varied your inputs are if you want a better answer.
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jbraque (May 19th, 2014)
Re: Managing different types of input
Thank you for your answer. The example is fictional, but i suppose each program would have different data structures, so the conversion you mentioned is logical.
Re: Managing different types of input
Just have an interface, for example Coordinate2D, which defines 2 methods: getX() and getY(). The user would only need to make his data structure implement this interface, or build a wrapper around it.
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