Re: [Htmlparser-developer] toPlainTextString() feedback requested

[Joshua K. <jo...@in...>]

> Could you explain why you want to refactor these methods?  Remember the
> danger of premature refactoring ... you lose flexibility that then has
> to be re-added later on, making more work in the long run.

Hi Sam,

There's a good deal of duplicate code in way the two toHTML methods and the
toPlainTextString method do their work.  The central theme is information
accumulation/alteration.  That involves outputing tag and node results and
recusing through tags.  The refactoring to Visitor allows us to

* remove many lines of duplicate code, spread across many classes
* remove hard-coded accumulation/alteration logic, thereby making it easier
for clients to get the data they need

Visitor takes some getting used to.  I rarely use the pattern. In this case,
IMO, it was a good fit.

> Is there some efficiency reason why you want to refactor these methods
> or is it just for neatness?

Duplication removal is reason #1.  Removal of hard-coded logic is reason #2.
Simplicity is reason #3: there is little reason to fatten the interfaces of
tag and node classes with various data accumulation/alteration methods when
one method and a variety of concrete Visitors can do the job with much less
code.

best regards
jk