"Get" method that prints

-1

"Get" method that prints ☶ c++ programming rant
authored by ilyash 2 years ago | 7 comments | +1, -2 off-topic

7

Background

There is an argument over naming of a method. I will not tell you on which side I am. Please don’t look this up on the internet for the sake of being objective.

     void Get_Contents() 
     { 
         for (const auto& item : m_contents) 
         { 
             cout << item << " "; 
         } 
     }

Side A: Get_Contents is misleading name because it actually prints and does not return any value.

Side B: You say so because it’s the naming convention you are accustomed to, the code is not defective. Get functions are many times getters but often they are not. You can do PR though.

Question

Would you consider Get_Contents name here misleading and therefore the code defective?

4

wink 2 years ago | link

Maybe you should try asking such questions on StackOverflow or CPP forums ;)

JFTR, this should be called print_contents because I don’t like uppercase variable names and it’s not getting anything, just printing. So, there you have your option C :)
1. 1
  
  ilyash 2 years ago | link
  
  StackOverflow or CPP forums ;)
  
  Mmm… nice. I think I’ll get there if there will be not enough answers here… since I already started here. I guess next time this kind of question goes straight there.
  1. 2
    
    inactive-user 2 years ago | link
    
    It’s probably too opinionated for Stack Overflow; it’s likely to get closed there.
    1. 1
      
      ilyash 2 years ago | link
      
      … also makes sense
2

gregory 2 years ago | link

The Getter returning void already gives some info that it’s not actually getting anything.

Regarding which side I’m on. I think the discussion can be avoided by renaming the function to Print_Contents, which more accurately reflects the actual behaviour. I also think you should rename it to print_contents or PrintContents but I’m trying to be consistent.
1. 1
  
  ilyash 2 years ago | link
  
  The Getter
  
  Side B claims it’s not a getter. Side A and you thinking it’s getter because of the naming convention you are accustomed to.
2

pyj edited 2 years ago | link

A lot of C++ code I’ve dealt with does not use Get* prefix for getters and instead uses lower case returning const or writable references depending on const modifier of the member function. I don’t know the origination of Get* and Set*–I know it’s extremely prevalent in Java but not in the C++ code I’ve dealt with. It seems to be a workaround for languages not having writable references, providing reflection-discoverable consistent access to data-like objects (I think is what JavaBeans used it for), or, more generally, just not implementing the universal access principle, which most languages don’t do.

If I saw a function with Get anything, I’d expect it to return some sort of value or use an out parameter, because it’s getting something and putting it somewhere.

The more important question, is why this is implemented as Get_Contents when it is writing to cout and not as std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const MyType& t).