Question

I’m developing a class for Persons and I’ve got a question or two about it.

/**
 * ADT for persons which is completed which subclasses
 * to creating actors with specific properties
*/
public class Person {

    /**
     * Name of the Person.
     */
  public String name;

    /**
     * The World which this Person is associated with.
     */
  public World world;

    /**
     * Tells where this Person is at the moment.
     */
  public Place where;

    /**
     * The inventory, contains Things.
     */
  public Collection<Thing> inventory;

    /**
     * Shows how the Person looks like
     */
  public Image appearance;

    /**
     * Create Person named `name' in world `world'.
     * 
     * @param world The world where the Person is created.
     * @param name Name of the Person.
     * @param app An image used to display the Person.
     */
  public Person( World world, String name, Image app ) {
    this.world = world;
    this.name = name;
    this.appearance = app;

    where = world.defaultPlace();
    where.enter( this );

    inventory = Collections.synchronizedCollection( new LinkedList() );
  }

…

1. Should the Person class be public or could default access be better? Isn’t it a bit strange that a Person, a private Person should be public even though the meanings are not exactly the same here.

2. How should I handle the arning when my IDE warn about the inventory = Collections.synchronizedCollection( new LinkedList() ); ? It warns about my type safety.

Thank you

Answer 1

1. If Person will only be used in one package, you can make it default. Otherwise public makes sense.

2. Try giving the generic type.

   List<Person> people = Collections.synchronizedList(new LinkedList<Person>());
   

BTW: Most IDEs will have an auto/quick fix for either of these problems.