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Thread: where to put list of objects method OOP

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    Default where to put list of objects method OOP

    I have searched for this question and not found the answer. This should be simple, but i struggle with the answer. Hopefully someone can help.

    Where is the OOP acceptable place to put methods to get lists? For example, suppose i have a person class, and i need to get a list of all persons, a getPeople() method.

    Do i put this in the person class so i would have person.getPeople() or do i create some other class?

    Now let's say i have a WorkCenter class where multiple persons can be assigned to a work center, and i want to get all people assigned to a work center. Do i add a getPeople() method to the Work Center class or do i use some other class and send in the Work Center class as a filter?


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    Default Re: where to put list of objects method OOP

    First scenario:

    The Person class represents a single person. Why should it have to keep track of every Person which has been instantiated? It shouldn't. Different people are going to be instantiated for different reasons and there doesn't need to be a "master list" accessible from the Person class. There are technical implications on why it shouldn't (not unsolvable, just unnecessary problems to have to think about), but the above is the main reasons.

    Second scenario:

    A WorkCenter's representation may contain a list of People who work there. In this case it is perfectly valid for it to keep track of what people are related to a given WorkCenter and a getPeople() method is a great way to retrieve the list of workers.

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    Default Re: where to put list of objects method OOP

    for first scenario: Where do you propose i put the getPeople() method? Do i create a PersonList class, or a People class, or a generic master list class, or something/somewhere else?

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    Default Re: where to put list of objects method OOP

    It depends on what your application is doing. In general I don't think it's useful to have a list of every instance created of a particular class. It plays havoc on memory management systems because the garbage collector has no idea when a particular instance is ready to be destroyed.

    Wherever people are being used should keep track of what people instances they are interacting with (similar to case 2).

    What problem are you trying to solve that would involve keeping a global list of people instances? There may be a better way to structure your program to avoid it.

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