Add daily email for 2024-09-09

Avoiding primitive obsession

source/_daily_emails/2024-09-09.md

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+---
+title: Avoiding primitive obsession
+date: 2024-09-09
+permalink: daily/2024/09/09/avoiding-primitive-obsession
+tags:
+  - software-development
+  - php
+  - clean-code
+cta: ~
+snippet: |
+  Avoiding primitive obsession with value objects.
+---
+
+Something interesting that [Dave Liddament][0] and I discussed was the use of value objects in application code.
+
+Instead of using a primitive type, such as `string`, you can create a new value object for a specific type of string, such as an `EmailAddress` or, in my side project, a `LicenceKey`.
+
+Both are strings, but using value objects of specific types can make the code more readable and its intent clearer.
+
+A value object can contain additional logic, such as validation to execute an ensure the value object is valid, such as making sure a string is not empty, is a specific length or only contains valid characters.
+
+This an approach that I'm going to use more going forward.
+
+I also found [a lighting talk by Dave][1] at a PHPSW meetup where he explains this further and, of course, you can listen to the podcast episode after it's been released.
+
+[0]: https://www.daveliddament.co.uk
+[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJpvObzKewY