Women in Technology

Article:		Creating Varargs in Java 1.5 Tiger
Subject:		Are varargs an improvement?
Date:		2004-08-14 20:30:22
From:		MarcinJeske
I have read a number of articles and comments lauding varargs as one of the best new features in 1.5. I don't get it. They just seem to be a slight change of syntax and a change to coding style. Further, while they save some people a bit of typing, they introduce potentially elusive bugs (as noted in the excerpt). I've never had a problem with supplying multiple arguments to a method in Java... I just use an array (hmmm... sort of like Java 1.5 does). So all varargs does is replace the [] with a NEW, SEMANTICALLY EQUIVALENT symbol, the ..., and save some typing for the method's clients: foo(one, two, three) instead of: foo(new Object [] {one,two,three) Worse yet, you have to remember to typecast arrays passed to vararg methods to avoid them being treated as the argument list... unless that's what you want. Further, as opposed to explicitly using arrays, varargs can be used only once in the parameter list, at the end. (Also, I think the author alluded to another problem in the excerpt: void foo(String x, String... list) {} void foo(String x, String y, String... list) {} foo("a","b","c"); where it is unclear which method to match and the compiler will return an awkward error. Using arrays would avoid this ambiguity.) Also, using varargs could degrade coding style... and lead to mistakes which would have been caught as type errors using arrays. Ex: void sendMail( Person sender, Person... recievers); sendMail( myself, reciever1, receiver2 ); sendMail( recevier1, recevier2 ); Both of those method invocation will compile and work, but one of them won't do the right thing (because we forgot the "sender" argument). The mistake would have been caught by the type system if the method had been defined as: void sendMail( Person sender, Person [] receviers ); sendMail( myself, new Person [] {receiver1, receiver2} ); Finally, I want to say that I liked the style of the book, and am considering buying it... however, the editors might like to fix the manuscript up for the next printing, because at least in the excerpt, there are a number of places where the code doesn't seem to match the output, or where the '-' is used when a "=" should have been. Best, Marcin

Showing messages 1 through 4 of 4.

• Are varargs an improvement?
  2005-01-11 01:34:11  Krishnas [View]
  
  
  Let me give my comments.
  If you are seeing the Java 1.5 new features, ut will reduce the work for programmers rather than focusing on more functionality.
  
  But generics are realy amazing feature indeed.using enumerationa and varargs and static imports are minmize the code.
  Correct me if i am wrong.
  Thank you.
• Are varargs an improvement?
  2006-02-04 19:02:20  bastos [View]
  
  
  Oh yes. I agree.
  
  Java was quite unattractive before version 1.5, in my opinion, the aggrivating amount of typecasting involved with any type of general consumption libraries (Such as the Collections framework) was not only an eyesore, but aggravated many of our repetitive strain injuries. Personally, I stayed as far away from java as possible due to the early large amount of work for low gain and low efficency of java. A decade later, they have solved what originally made me sick about it. With the combination of generics, for-in loops, enums, static imports, and regular string formatting (as well as its catalyst, variable argument methods), all of a sudden I don't mind coding java anymore.
  
  And with the great runtime efficiency boost in the latest JVM, I don't writing, running, and using java applications, either...so I've crossed over, quit my job, and now work as a Java Engineer. And to think 10 years ago when I first heard "Java is the future", and grabbed a java compiler and started hacking...I found myself laughing in disbelief.
  
  While its true that variable arguments increase the possibility of runtime error, eliminating the possibility of runtime error entirely causes entirely more trouble for the engineers using the tools than its worth. And not having features like these don't stop people from writing buggy, screwed up code, anyway.

• Are varargs an improvement?
  2004-08-19 06:36:52  Brett McLaughlin | [View]
  
  
  Marcin-
  
  

  Thanks for your comments. I think it's true that varargs have been pretty heralded in Tiger. That said, I've always maintained (or tried to maintain) that they are more about convenience than functionality.

  
  

  I think what you'll find is that many Java programmers, especially ones for which Java is their first language, really aren't as comfortable as you might think with arrays. It's simply easier to works with Java collections. For these reasons, the idea of converting arguments to an array is a bit of a pain.

  
  

  And, I do think there are valid uses of varargs, like the classic max(int...) type of method. It really is a pain to throw ten or fifteen variables into an array just to call a method like this (max int[]), at least in my opinion.

  
  

  All that said, you're very much right that varargs can introduce a lot of hinky bugs. Like almost any new feature, it will probably be overused until some well-defined usage patterns develop. But, that's to be expected with new APIs :-)

  
  

  Thanks for your comments!

  
  

  -Brett McLaughlin

• Are varargs an improvement?
  2004-10-08 15:55:03  MarcinJeske [View]
  
  
  It's good to see that you are keeping an eye on comments. Just to add a few thought:
  
  You may be right that first-time programmers learning Java, as opposed to those coming from other languages, are not as confortable using arrays. After working with arrays in C/C++, using them in Java is a dream... the same simplicity and power but without the inherent bugs (pointer error, bounds-checking, type errors). As much as the collections classes are necessary and useful to describe dynamically changing groups, set-style notation, and underlying performance needs, nothing beats the ease of creating, initializing, and altering elements in an array. ( new int [] {1,2,3} )
  
  On the other hand, I wouldn't mind if there were improvements. After becoming familiar with the array operations of Python and Perl, I've found myself wishing for those operations Java, and creating helper methods which mimic them:
  
  Namely, array slices, where a new array is returned containing a subset of the original between a range of indices ( public Object [] slice(Object [], int start, int end); ), or a subset is returned based on an array of indices ( public Object [] slice(Object [], int [] indices); )
  
  I much prefer the Python to the Perl syntax...
  
  Anyway, I appreciate the response.
  
  Marcin