Peter Drake, he/him, LFHCfS 🔥 @peterdrake@social.cleverlibre.org

The goal is to give my computer science students just enough spaghetti that they realize they are in trouble, but not so much that they become hopelessly entangled. Unfortunately, things often don't happen in that order.

Solution: double dispatch. I replaced:

A result = otherObject.foo();
if (result instanceof B) {
B b = (B)result;
d.doSomething(b);
} else {
C c = (C)result;
d.doSomething(c);
}

with :

otherObject.foo().doSomething(d);

where B and C have different definitions of doSomething.

As desired, otherObject still can't call doSomething, even on Bs and Cs it creates, because it doesn't have access to d.

"Whoever did this licked so many frogs." -@ShutUpShow@twitter.com on the box art for Inis

Another #java puzzle:

Interface A is implemented by classes B and C. I call a method that returns an A and want to do different things depending on whether I actually get back a B or a C. Is there a cleaner way than this?

A result = otherObject.foo();
if (result instanceof B) {
B b = (B)result;
doSomething(b);
} else {
C c = (C)result;
doSomething(c);
}

I can't change doSomething(b) into b.doSomething() because (for security reasons) I don't want otherObject to be able to doSomething.

instanceof feels dirty.

Ideas?

On its very first move, my primitive Scrabble AI played "LO". #singularity

Censoring taboo language with the wrong number of asterisks is a f******ing brilliant idea.

We Finally Know How Wombats Produce Their Distinctly Cube-Shaped Poop https://gizmodo.com/we-finally-know-how-wombats-produce-their-distinctly-cu-1830414749 via @gizmodo

After our first session, we question the decision to launch @ingress@twitter.com at the beginning of winter. #brrr

你好

The title case in the "Thames Murders" box from Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective was a nice, juicy one.

Overheard: "We should get some kind of ice cream novelty treat out of spite."

At grocery store: "Let's get the healthy kind. That way neither one of us likes it."

That's the third time we've tried to go out to dinner and arrived to find the place had gone out of business.

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