oliverdavies.uk/source/_daily_emails/2024-05-03.md

title	date	permalink	tags	cta	snippet
Don't add boolean arguments	2024-05-03	daily/2024/05/03/dont-add-boolean-arguments	software-development drupal php	~	Don't add boolean arguments to your methods.

A convention I like from the Laravel framework is to avoid adding boolean arguments to methods.

For example, if I have this function:

public function getPosts() { ... }

If I wanted to only get published posts, one way would be to add a boolean argument:

public function getPosts(boolean $onlyPublished) { ... }

Then, I'd need to use that within the method body to add another condition (this is referred to as control coupling, where one method affects another).

The non-boolean approach would be to create a separate method with its own distinct name.

For example, getPosts() could be named getAllPosts() and there could be a separate getPublishedPosts() method for only getting published posts:

public function getAllPosts() { ... }

public function getPublishedPosts() { ... }

Whilst we have two methods now instead of one, it's much clearer what each does and there aren't any random true or falses wherever the method is used.