I want to create a class with two methods, and no other purpose than so I can create two subclasses which inherit the methods. This class cannot function on its own. Is this a bad programming design or habit?
Share
Sign Up to our social questions and Answers Engine to ask questions, answer people’s questions, and connect with other people.
Login to our social questions & Answers Engine to ask questions answer people’s questions & connect with other people.
Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.
Please briefly explain why you feel this question should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this user should be reported.
I want to create a class with two methods, and no other purpose than so I can create two subclasses which inherit the methods. This class cannot function on its own. Is this a bad programming design or habit?
There are even classes that don’t do anything, other than letting other classes derive from it. It doesn’t matter whether the superclass can have useful instances themselves. Classes that only exist for other classes to derive from are often called abstract classes; some languages such as C++ also have syntax features to allow the compiler to give errors when you try to create an object from an abstract class. So it can’t be THAT bad to have classes like this.
Beyond that, what’s “bad practice”? If the setup makes the code easier to understand then it can’t be bad.
Of course, if the two classes you intend to derive really don’t have anything in common and those two methods are merely “hey, I noticed that 10 lines of code in that class are the same as these 10 lines in the other class”, then making this into a common superclass may confuse more than help. Classes should still have some form of relationship. If it’s just about sharing some code that randomly happens to show up here and there, standalone functions might be a better choice.
Basically, look at the names of the classes. If your new superclass is named something along the lines of “Some very generic name ’cause I have no idea what it is”, then it’s probably not “good design”. If, on the other hand, you have a proper name for the superclass, and the names of the derived classes are still something that has a “kind of” relationship to the superclass, then it’s probably not a bad thing.
Another strong hint for something being “good” is when you start using pointers to the superclass because you don’t care whether you’re dealing with one or the other subclass.