Women in Technology

Article:		The Objective-C Language
Subject:		Question
Date:		2001-05-08 15:12:51
From:		mikebeam
Response to: Question
Yes, yLocation is an instance variable for the class. "yLocation" the text is also part of the method name described. The reason i choose this name is to provide information about what the argument following the colon sets. you could have replaced "yLocation:(double)y" in the method declaration with "locationOfYCoordinate:(double)y" if you wanted. I just choose "yLocation" because ultimately that is the instance variable being set to the value of the second argument in this method. hope that helps clear things up! Mike

Showing messages 1 through 5 of 5.

• Question
  2001-05-10 14:41:38  kcrawford [View]
  
  
  I'm still confused. You put the arguments inside the name of the method?
  
  Please show the same method written in Java so I can translate.
  
  Would it be:
  
  public void setXLocationyLocation(double x, double y){}
• Question
  2001-05-11 06:13:54  Michael Beam | [View]
  
  
  that's right, you put arguments in the name of the method. Think of it as each argument having a label that is part of the method name. Your java line was correct, although i think you meant to put in a Y before the second location
  
  public void setXLocationYLocation(double x, double y) {}
  
  
• Question
  2001-05-11 09:19:15  kcrawford [View]
  
  
  Thanks, that clears things up a bit.
  
  Would you call the method with multiple arguments the same way--with the arguments inside the method name?
  
  For example, would you call the method
  
  - (void)setXLocation:(double)x yLocation:(double)y
  
  like this
  
  [setXLocation:10 yLocation:20];
• Question
  2001-05-11 12:00:20  Michael Beam | [View]
  
  
  Yeah, that's right, except your method call has no receiver, and it should. So it would have to be
  
  [anObject setXLocation:10 yLocation:20];
  
  when you want to invoke it.
• Question
  2001-05-15 10:06:53  TheBum [View]
  
  
  Allow me to step in here with a related question if I may. Are the tags in the argument list of the declaration, e.g. yLocation, just for readability or do they provide a way of specifying arguments in any order?