CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaconstructor
Fabian Zbinden
Fabian Zbinden

Reputation: 136

How to avoid "this" as Class parameter

I dont think its pretty to use this as a class parameter because there could occur errors if the order of initialization of the objects is not right.

Whats best practise to avoid this?

Example:

public class Game{

    private Player p1, p2, currentPlayer;
    private Board board;

    Game() {
        board = new Board(this);
    }

    private boolean hasFieldsToBeClicked() {
            return board.checkFieldsToBeClicked();
        }

Upvotes: 2

Views: 106

Answers (2)

LuCio
LuCio

Reputation: 5183

1) What about a builder, which creates the game and the board at first without the other. Then the builder can set the Board in the Game and the Game in the Board.

2) It seems the Board is an inherent part of the Game.

  • a) So you could use interfaces for Game and Board and implement both in one class.
  • b) If you want to separate the Game from the Board you could use an inner class for the Board within the Game.

Upvotes: 0

GhostCat
GhostCat

Reputation: 140525

From a design point of view: just don't do it here!

Meaning: a Board represents a board. Does your chess board know about the game you are currently having, or not?

In other words: passing this can be ok, but as you pointed out, it can also be a problem. Thus the best practice is: only pass this if you have good reasons to. Especially when it occurs within the constructor and this is still in the process of being initialized.

Enabling a chess board to know about an ongoing game isn't really a good reason.

Keep in mind: your classes/objects should model the real world. Only establish relations that are meaningful!

So the real answer here would be to look into why your Board class needs to know about the Game class, to then get rid of that dependency.

Upvotes: 6

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