Thread: Advice on how to structure co-dependent objects

Hi,

I'm currently practicing my java by creating a basic android app using libgdx. Each screen has its own class. I wanted to improve code legibility, so I created additional classes which are called as objects to hold different functions. For example:

public class Screen {
 
 ScreenA a;
 ScreenB b;
 ScreenC c;
 
 public Screen(){
  a = new ScreenA();
  b = new ScreenB();
  c = new ScreenC();
 }
 
 public void doStuff(){
  a.method();
  b.method();
  c.method();
 }
}

However, the methods in the additional classes usually depend on objects or methods stored in the other classes. To get this to work I had to add a reference to the other objects in each object's constructor. For example:

public class Screen {
 
 ScreenA a;
 ScreenB b;
 ScreenC c;
 
 public Screen(){
  a = new ScreenA();
  b = new ScreenB(a);
  c = new ScreenC(a,b);
 }
 
 public void doStuff(){
  a.method();
  b.method();
  c.method();
 }
}
 
public class ScreenB {
 
 ScreenA a;
 
 public ScreenB(ScreenA a) {
  this.a = a;
 }
}

Although I'm not sure if this is a good way to go about it. e.g. what if ScreenA needs to reference ScreenB? Another way I could do it would be to have the methods reference the other objects themselves. For example:

public class Screen {
 
 ScreenA a;
 ScreenB b;
 ScreenC c;
 
 public Screen(){
  a = new ScreenA();
  b = new ScreenB();
  c = new ScreenC();
 }
 
 public void doStuff(){
  a.method();
  b.method(a);
  c.method(a,b);
 }
}

I'm not sure what is best in terms of best practice. Is there a better way to go about doing this? Also how this would impact performance compared to having all the code within the class. I would love to hear what you guys think.

Thanks in advance!

I'm on an android. The java concepts works the same on any device. Write once, run anywhere. Cross platform, as long as the network you're on uses a JVM and compiles files to read as .class files. This looks like a fine program.

@planetHollywood

The question asked was about objects where each object's behaviour might depend on the state of the other objects. And the OP asked whether it was better to pass the other objects as arguments in the constructor, or as arguments in the method call.

How do either of your comments address this?

@OP: I have just skimmed it, but there is a discussion of this at CodeRanch. As well as the constructor vs method question they consider a "configuration" class. Your Screen class might play this role.