CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gointerfacerefactoringcode-duplication
Bruno Reis
Bruno Reis

Reputation: 37822

Reducing code duplication in Golang

I'm having trouble find the "go-way" to solve a code duplication issue. Here's the problem. Consider the following:

type (
  WithKey interface {
    key() string
  }

  SharedFunctionality interface {
    WithKey
    MethodA() string
    MethodB() string
    // ... etc ...
  }

  FirstType struct { ... }
  SecondType struct { ... }
  // ... etc ...
)
func (ft *FirstType) key() string { ... }
func (st *SecondType) key() string { ... }

Now, the methods in SharedFunctionality they only depend on the results of the key() method. I could implement them like the following:

func runMethodA(k WithKey) string {
  key := k.key()
  // do something and return a string
}
func runMethodB(k WithKey) string {
  key := k.key()
  // do something else and return a string
}

func (ft *FirstType) MethodA() string { return runMethodA(ft) }
func (ft *FirstType) MethodB() string { return runMethodB(ft) }
func (st *SecondType) MethodA() string { return runMethodA(st) }
func (st *SecondType) MethodB() string { return runMethodB(st) }

What I dislike about this approach is that, as I add more types (ThirdType, FourthType, etc) or as I add more methods to SharedFunctionality, I have to add tons of boilerplate code... specifically, for M methods in SharedFunctionality, and N types, I would have to spell out M*N one-liners like the 4 above.

What I would love to do is something like:

func (k WithKey) MethodA() string {
  key := k.key()
  // do something
}

In other words: I'd love to define a method on an Interface type. Meaning: all objects that implement "WithKey" would automatically get MethodA() string, MethodB() string, etc, therefore they would automatically implement the SharedFunctionality interface. Something like default methods in Java interfaces.

However, I know it's impossible to define a method in an Interface type...

What's the go-way of solving this problem?

I've seen an approach where I would create a struct with an anonymous field of the interface type, and then implement the methods there:

type SharedFuncStruct struct {
  WithKey
}
func (sfs *SharedFuncStruct) MethodA() string {
  key := sfs.key()
  // whatever
}
// same for MethodB()

Then to use it, I would do something like:

first := ... getFirstTypeValue()
sfs := &SharedFuncStruct{first}
sfs.MethodA() // etc

This looks like it could work, but it still feels like too much boilerplate code.

Any other alternatives?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 4457

Answers (2)

Kaedys
Kaedys

Reputation: 10128

Fun fact: you can embed interfaces into structs, and the struct then automatically fulfills that interface. You can use this to effectively define methods on interfaces:

https://play.golang.org/p/ZufTOzr9ig

type (
    WithKey interface {
        key() string
    }

    SharedFunctionality interface {
        WithKey
        MethodA() string
        MethodB() string
    }

    KeyHolder struct {
        WithKey
    }

    FirstType struct { ... }
    SecondType struct { ... }
)

func (k *KeyHolder) MethodA() string {
    key := k.key()
    // ...
}

func (k *KeyHolder) MethodB() string {
    key := k.key()
    // ...
}

func NewSharedFunctionality(w WithKey) SharedFunctionality {
    return &KeyHolder{w}
}

func (ft *FirstType) key() string { ... }
func (st *SecondType) key() string { ... }

In this case, the KeyHolder struct embeds the WithKey interface, and thus can hold anything that has the key() string method (which both FirstType and SecondType have). You can then define MethodA and MethodB on that struct, and that struct will then fulfill both the WithKey interface (because it embeds it) and the SharedFunctionality interface, using whatever key is returned by the embedded WithKey.

In other words, instead of wrapping FirstType in WithKey and then in SharedFunctionality (meaning FirstType itself has to define key(), MethodA(), and MethodB()), you wrap FirstType in WithKey, then embed it (as a WithKey interface) in some other structure that exists solely to define those default methods MethodA and MethodB, which then fulfills the SharedFunctionality interface.

Upvotes: 2

dave
dave

Reputation: 64657

It looks to me like you need to extract a package. The way I would have the function is

package keyed

type hasKey interface {
    Key() string
}

func MethodA(k hasKey) string {
    key := k.Key()
    // whatever
}

func MethodB(k hasKey) string {
    key := k.Key()
    // whatever
}

and then

package your_package

import "keyed"

type (
    FirstType struct { ... }
    SecondType struct { ... }
)

func (ft *FirstType) Key() string { ... }
func (st *SecondType) Key() string { ... }

func main() {
    first := &FirstType{}
    second := &SecondType{}
    keyed.MethodA(first)
    keyed.MethodA(second)
    keyed.MethodB(first)
    keyed.MethodB(second)
}

Upvotes: 2

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