Question

I am thinking that if a class will be instantiated only in another class so it is right to use it nested in that class.I think this will help us good design.When i look at my project i have almost never seen such nested structure.But if i try to nested classes so this time another questions appear in my mind.For example

I have Board class, Move classes such as ShortCastle,LongCastle,EnPassant,Promote and Pieces like Pawn,Queen,Rook,Knight etc. So it is clear Board classes will instantiate Piece classes and Piece classes will instantiate Move classes. For a good design,Promote move class should to be nested of Pawn because only pawn can promote itself.short and long Castles should to be nested of King because only king can have such type moves.

Trying to put all Piece classes into Board class is not looking good design because 8-9 class will be inside of Board class and it will really annoying one Board class file will be too large and hardly readable.I prefer keep each piece class in another file. Good that we can create partial Board class but still isn’t it annoying 8-9 Partial Board class files will hold each piece class? Is it better to not make them nested ? Same about Pieces Create another partial Piece file just for another Move type class ? If nested class just take small space so it wouldn’t be any problem but if it takes many methods ?

Answer 1

I think you are too generous with nested classes.
Have a look at this design guideline for nested types.

Do not use nested types if the following are true:

• The type must be instantiated by
  client code. If a type has a public
  constructor, it probably should not
  be nested. The rationale behind this
  guideline is that if a nested type
  can be instantiated, it indicates
  that the type has a place in the
  library on its own. You can create
  it, use it, and destroy it without
  using the outer type. Therefore, it
  should not be nested. An inner type
  should not be widely reused outside
  of the outer type without a
  relationship to the outer type.
• References to the type are commonly
  declared in client code.

The pieces may belong to a board(Piece-collection as a member?) but could coexist without of it. You might f.e. want to reuse boards without pieces(themes etc) and also reuse pieces without a board(positions etc).