Is using the instanceof
keyword against the essence of object oriented programming
?
I mean is it a bad programming practice?
I read somewhere that us
Another usage of instaceOf operation could be error handling. If you have similar error handling for exceptions, and you want to have it all in one place you can use:
public void handleError(Throwable t, HttpServletRequest req) {
if (t instaceOf ValidationException) {
...doSomewthing......
} else if (t instaceOf DataException) {
...doSomewthing......
} else if (t instaceOf DataException) {
...doSomewthing......
} else {
...doSomewthing......
}
}
with above code, you avoid to have many
} catch <Exception> {
blocks and instead have just one
} catch (Throwable t) {
handleError(t, request);
return "errorPage" or whateveryouwant;
}
Also, one more thing is, is you check java source code, you will find so many usages of instaceof..
And one good link: article about usage of instaceof
There are many good answers promoting virtual methods, but instanceof
has its uses as well. Imagine that you iterate over List<Event>
, to pick up all Urgent
objects. You might do it using isUrgent()
but I am not sure if it were necessarily more concise or readable. Also, isUrgent()
would require making Event
aware that its subclasses may possess the respective property, which might:
Event
belongs to some library that can not be modified.It's discouraged because people might use it to do something like this:
if( myAnimal instanceof Dog )
((Dog)myAnimal).bark();
else( myAnimal instanceof Cat )
((Cat)myAnimal).meow();
Instead, Animal
should have a speak()
method which Dog
and Cat
inherit. In proper OOP with polymorphism and dynamic binding, you would then simply do
myAnimal.speak();
However, there are some instances in which you must use instanceof
to determine the specific type of an object. Perhaps you have a list of Animals
in your house and the only ones you want to take out for a walk()
are the Dog
s. In that case you would iterate through your list and only walk()
the dogs.
How about in the case of a creation factory (See below)? In this case, I don't think it is appropriate for an Animal subclass to know how to build a cage for itself. It seems out of out of scope of what an Animal is and forces the Animal subclass to take on behaviors that are not intrinsic to what an Animal is.
public static Cage createCage(Animal animal) {
if (animal instanceof Dog)
return new DogHouse();
else if (animal instanceof Lion)
return new SteelCage();
else if (animal instanceof Chicken)
return new ChickenWiredCage();
else if (animal instanceof AlienPreditor)
return new ForceFieldCage();
...
else
return new GenericCage();
}
Favor polymorphism and dynamic binding to downcasting and instanceof
. This is the "OO Way" and enables you to write code that doesn't need to know about subtypes.
EXAMPLE
abstract class Animal {
public abstract void talk();
//...
}
class Dog extends Animal {
public void talk() {
System.out.println("Woof!");
}
//...
}
class Cat extends Animal {
public void talk() {
System.out.println("Meow!");
}
//...
}
class Hippopotamus extends Animal {
public void talk() {
System.out.println("Roar!");
}
//...
}
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
makeItTalk(new Cat());
makeItTalk(new Dog());
makeItTalk(new Hippopotamus());
}
public static void makeItTalk(Animal animal) {
animal.talk();
}
}
The key is to not see instanceof as being part of common "normal practice". Like introspection in general, instanceof is a special tool for use in particular, atypical circumstances. Whenever you do use 'instanceof', you may also find yourself using other 'special' parts of the platform such as reflection more generally.
So long as whenever you find yourself using it you accept that what you're doing is a kludge in the absence of a more elegant/practical alternative, then that's fine.
That said, the most typical circumstances in everyday programs are probably:
A rule of thumb you could try and stick to is to not require users of a library to have to use 'instanceof', but rather have any cases of 'instanceof' internal to the library.
Or put another way, you should re-frame your question: "What are the cases that 'intsanceof' is a workaround for?"