Re: [Cppunit-devel] toString() is not used...

[Steve M. R. <ste...@vi...>]

On Sat, Jun 10, 2000 at 02:59:02PM +0200, Baptiste Lepilleur wrote:
>     Well, I looked around in the code, and the method toString() which is
> defined in most of the classes does not seem to be used (getName() is used
> instead).
> 
>     Since it is not used, why  not remove it ? I think this is a leftover
> from the junit port, but I don't see any use for it.
> 
>     Having a toString() and a getName() is confusing for newbies (I remember
> I was confused at first).

I think it is confusing mainly because the base class Test doesn't
document what the two functions are supposed to do.  [Indeed, Test
doesn't document what *any* of its functions are supposed to do.]

I'm all for simplifying the interface.  I guess we'll have to first
articulate what these functions are intended to do.  TestCase (a
subclass of Test), for example, defines toString() and getName()
differently.  TestCase objects have a "name" (m_name, rather)
variable; getName() returns this name.  The function toString(),
however, prepends a class name to it.

The behaviour of toString() seems quite useful; maybe that is the
interface to standardize on.  I haven't really looked at the code
closely.  Hopefully someone with a longer history with the project
will speak up ;-)

-S


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