How to organize code well in root class?

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18817635

  •  28-06-2022
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Question

So, I've been writing this software with C++ for some time. It has gui and a gui has access to master class object, that object is responsible for whatever task is made by the gui (when user clicks something, gui just calls a method of that object).

Now, I don't know if this is the best way. I've never worked in any coding company in my life, but I've came into some problems.

Actually, master class doesn't do anything. It's mostly a wrapper for other objects located inside that class. So, for instance:

class Master {
public:
    void writeSomethingToFile(const char *filename,std::string& text);
...
}

under the hood:

class Master {
...
private:
    FileWriter *_writer;
}

void Master::writeSomethingToFile(const char *filename,std::string& text) {
    _writer->write(filename,text);
}

So, the master class doesn't do the writing itself, it just throws the task for writer class which should do the job.

The master class has a lot of objects like writer class, so, as far as gui is concerned, master class is capable of ANYTHING it ever needs in program.

However, code get's kind of clunky in master class, since it contains all these wrapper methods it has VERY MANY METHODS.

Since it uses all these other classes, whenever I change any header of the class master class uses the .cpp file has to be recompiled too (not too bad for i7 processor, but I'd rather avoid it).

What now I've been using is very primitive, and by no means I defend this way:

class Master {
public:
    // FILE CHANNEL
    void writeToFile(...);
    void deleteFile(...);
    // FILE CHANNEL

    // ARITHMETIC CHANNEL
    void addNumbers(...);
    void multiplyNumbers(...);
    // ARITHMETIC CHANNEL

    ...
}

I would literally, separate things I call "channels" with comments so I could understand what belongs to what. Now, for gui, this may not be that bad, since everything is grouped. However, when I go further developing this class adding new inner classes to it and wrapping more methods, stuff becomes clunky and what most bothers me, it's not rock solid. I mean, If I would take one method from commented "channel" and put it in the other, would I really see the difference?

I thought about couple of solutions. I've never tried it but I may create memberspaces:

class Master {
public:
    namespace file {
        void writeToFile(...);
        void deleteFile(...);
    }

    namespace arithmetic {
        void addNumbers(...);
        void multiplyNumbers(...);
    }

    ...
}

This solves problem from my side, as a developer of a class, but, for gui they now have to call methods like 

master->arithmetic.addNumbers(...); // My syntax could be wrong here
// never used memberspace, corrections are appreciated

And now, as my project is 'kinda' swinging at the moment, that would mean modifying A LOT OF CODE.

Another solution I thought about was constant inheritance from class to class where master class in file focuses on one channel:

class Master_fileChannel {
     FileHandler *_fileHandler;
     void writeToFile(...);
     void deleteFile(...);
}

...

class Master_arithmeticChannel : public Master_fileChannel {
     ArithmeticUnit *_arithmeticUnit;
     void addNumbers(...);
     void multiplyNumbers(...);
}

and so on, until I inherit every "channel". This would be more solid than the original state, and make files a lot shorter than current .cpp file for this class. But, I would still have issue that I may use duplicate method names and would have to make up more and more clunky names for my methods (i.e. addNumbers(..); addThreadNumbers(..); addThreadNumbersSeparately(..);

So, what would you suggest me to do here? I can build up that master class to infinity, but I'm sure there's a better way. How these things are dealt with in real decent sized code bases? Can I refactor code quickly across all project to do these drastic changes without a sweat?

Était-ce utile?

La solution

As @Mat kindly refers in the comments, you've found yourself accompanied with so called "God object" - it manages every single thing in your project and any code change would influence this "god".

As long as you have some development experience, it can be worth to read some best-practices:

Autres conseils

In this case, the fix appears fairly simple. Just drop the whole Master class. It adds no value, so there is nothing to be gained by keeping it.

Your FILE CHANNEL or namespace file already exists, and is called class FileWriter.

I'm slightly suspicious about the filename argument. That probably shouldn't be present in a write method, that should be passed to the FileWriter constructor. Each file should have its own writer.

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