[Tutor] Object Oriented References? and a couple of question s <--LONG

[alan.gauld@bt.com]

> On Saturday, August 11, 2001, at 11:25 AM, alan.gauld@bt.com wrote:
> > cook = Cook()
> > pantry = Pantry()
> > cook.makeMeal()
> >
> > And the makeMeal method might look like this:
> >
> > class Cook:
> >    def makeMeal(meal)
> >       ingredients = pantry.gather()
> >       for item in ingredients
> >           item.sift()
> >       return meal.bake(ingredients)
> 
> Don't you lose polymorphism by hard-coding a call to a specific 
> instance's method? 

I'm not intending to limit it because pantry is set external to the 
method. It might in fact be an attribute of the Cook class 
(or maybe the Kitchen class within which the cook instance 
is currently working ;-). Thus whatever pantry is instantiated 
to - it could be a Cupboard or a Freezer or a JITDeliveryservice 
type of "pantry" the methods will polymorphically function 
correctly. It probably would be a bad idea to instantiate 
the pantry within the makeMeal method.


> Wouldn't it be more consistent with OO design to 
> allow "makeMeal" to call the "gather" method of any object that 
> implements it?  

Thats what I did, I just didn't specify where/how the pantry
should be set.

> class Cook:
> 	def makeMeal(self, meal, supplier):
> 		ingredients = supplier.gather(meal)
> 		. . .

I would probably prefere to put supplier as an attribute 
of Cook set in the __init__ method say. But the principle 
is right.

> lunch = cook1.makeMeal("tuna fish sandwich", source1)

I'd suggest any intelligent cook should know where to 
find his ingredients, he wouldn't expect the diner to 
tell him!

But there's no absolute in this without knowing an awful 
lot more about the requirements...

Alan G.