39 lines
1.2 KiB
Markdown
39 lines
1.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Don't add boolean arguments
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date: 2024-05-03
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permalink: daily/2024/05/03/dont-add-boolean-arguments
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tags:
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- software-development
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- drupal
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- php
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cta: ~
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snippet: |
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Don't add boolean arguments to your methods.
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---
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A convention I like from the Laravel framework is to avoid adding boolean arguments to methods.
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For example, if I have this function:
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```php
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public function getPosts() { ... }
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```
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If I wanted to only get published posts, one way would be to add a boolean argument:
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```php
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public function getPosts(boolean $onlyPublished) { ... }
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```
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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).
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The non-boolean approach would be to create a separate method with its own distinct name.
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For example, `getPosts()` could be named `getAllPosts()` and there could be a separate `getPublishedPosts()` method for only getting published posts:
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```php
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public function getAllPosts() { ... }
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public function getPublishedPosts() { ... }
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```
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Whilst we have two methods now instead of one, it's much clearer what each does and there aren't any random `true` or `false`s wherever the method is used.
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