CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javanaming-conventionsgetter
Simon
Simon

Reputation: 9365

Should I use "get"-prefix in my method name?

I have this abstract class that is used as data repository. 

public abstract class AbstractDataSource {
    public abstract DataRow getDataRow(Key key); //or just dataRow(Key key)???
}

public class CSVDataSource extends AbstractDataSource {
    @Override
    public DataRow getDataRow(Key key) { //or just dataRow(Key key)??
        //fetch row from file and return dataRow
        //....
        return dataRow;
    }
}

More specific classes (i.e. subclasses of this class) implement methods for different data source, e.g. CSV, ARFF and other formats.

I was wondering if the "get"-Keyword is appropriate here, as the data retrieval is not just returning a variable, but could also require filesystem access or whatsoever.

So should I use the "get"-prefix or not?

Thanks

Upvotes: 9

Views: 2921

Answers (2)

C. Ross
C. Ross

Reputation: 31848

Do you want to this method to be a bean getter, so you can use it with things like BeanUtils? Given that it is doing heavy I/O and some logic, probably not, so I would name it differently.

Upvotes: 2

Johan Sjöberg
Johan Sjöberg

Reputation: 49187

I agree that using the get keyword can sometimes seem non-intuitive when there's real logic behind. In your case lookup or find prefixes could be good substitues. There's also retrieve as suggested by @Thomas.

This question might seem off topic at first. But naming is, at least to me, an integral part of good application design.

Upvotes: 10

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