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Java Java Objects (Retired) Delivering the MVP Wrapping up

Abe Daniels
PLUS
Abe Daniels
Courses Plus Student 2,781 Points

Are my getters in the right spot? && are they named properly?

I am wondering if i have misplaced my getters. I feel like they should belong in the ForumPost class along with the other get methods. What am I doing wrong here?

ForumPost.java
public class ForumPost {
  private User mAuthor;
  private String mTitle;
  private String mDescription;

  public User getAuthor() {
    return mAuthor;
  }

  public String getTitle() {
    return mTitle;
  }

  public String getFirstName() {
    return firstName;  
  }

  public String getLastName() {
    return lastName;
  }

  // TODO: We need to expose the description
}
User.java
public class User {
    private String mFirstName;
    private String mLastName;



  public User(String firstName, String lastName) {
    // TODO:  Set the private fields here
    mFirstName = firstName;
    mLastName = lastName;
  }

}
Forum.java
public class Forum {
  private String mTopic;
  public Forum (String topic) {
    mTopic = topic;
  }
  public String getTopic() {
      return mTopic;
  }

  public void addPost(ForumPost post) {
      /* When all is ready uncomment this...
      System.out.printf("New post from %s %s about %s.\n",
                         post.getAuthor().getFirstName(),
                         post.getAuthor().getLastName(),
                         post.getTitle());
      */
  }
}
Example.java
public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("Starting forum example...");
    if (args.length < 2) {
       System.out.println("first and last name are required. eg:  java Example Craig Dennis");
    }
    // Forum forum = new Forum("Java");
    // Take the first two elements passed args
    // User author = new User();
    // Add the author, title and description
    // ForumPost post = new ForumPost();
    // forum.addPost(post);
  }
}

2 Answers

Depending on your classes variables, you could have one getter for each variable, you can't get a different classes variable inside another class so if i had classA with variable A and classB with variable B then I would have one getter for variable A inside classA and one getter for variable B inside classB, but I can't have a getter for variable B inside classA, make sense?

So it does somewhat matter where you place your getters, but as long as they are within the class which you need to GET a variable from, and are getting a variable defined inside that class, then it should be fine.

No problem, this principle applies to several (maybe even all) class-based programming languages, and what you name your getters doesn't really matter. Just make it to where you don't have to guess what it does when you call it.