Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Veraticus 1073 days ago
But you probably will have to differentiate at some point between what you're inserting. Why not just do that, instead of artificially combine it into one function?

Nevertheless I feel like I'm getting lost in the weeds of this example. Obviously DRY and less duplication is good. However, you have to strike a balance between being clever and being clear. And frankly I would prefer 3 lines of clear code to 1 line of hard-to-read code.
2 comments
joshuamorton 1073 days ago
> But you probably will have to differentiate at some point between what you're inserting. Why not just do that, instead of artificially combine it into one function?

Why prematurely optimize for differences that may not (and in practice aren't really likely to) happen?

Keep in mind that the tradeoff with generics is usually not 3 lines of clear or 1 line of hard to read, it's one line of clear code (T -> T), one line of unclear code (Interface{} -> Interface{} + casts), or n lines of complex code (concretely reimplementing the function for your particular case).

link
Veraticus 1073 days ago
I would say that a BulkInsert(Any) is a significant premature optimization over just inserting an object as would apply specifically to that object. Because it sounds like you'd have to do weird reflection stuff on the object to determine how and what to insert where.

If you are inserting an object, you should insert it, rather than create complicated generic insert methods that morph themselves based on the object being inserted. That is idiomatic Go.

link
rowanseymour 1073 days ago
My example was a bit simplified but basically the function takes a SQL statement and a slice of structs that use db:column field tags. It's no more doing "weird reflection stuff" than say json.Marshal
link
z0r 1073 days ago
Writing and reading repetitive code leads to unintentional defects. This is why for loop syntax that directly iterates through a collection is less error prone than the equivalent loop built on indexed look-ups. "Clever" code, at least when it is shorter, is often clearer than "simple" code.
link
Veraticus 1073 days ago
I entirely disagree; defects are created by complexity, not repetition.
link
soulbadguy 1073 days ago
> defects are created by complexity, not repetition.

Any reference for this ?

I though there was a pretty strong connection between the total number of line of code and the number of bug... That's the whole point of DRY.

link