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Jian Chen
4,938 PointsWhy make a method when you can just make variable?
so we made a method to check if the Pez Dispenser is empty or not with: public boolean isEmpty() { return mPezCount == 0; } But why don't we just make a variable like this? boolean isEmpty = mPezCount == 0; both ways we still know if it is empty or not, right? Is there something I'm missing or misunderstanding? I would appreciate any clarification.
1 Answer
Rob Bridges
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 35,467 PointsHey Jian,
we certainly could have done that that way there are multiple ways to accomplish a task in any language, but this way we actually made a method that could be called on a PezDispenser object for us to check, it becomes difficult when we try to determine information about objects without passing methods on them.
Also another thing to consider, it sounds like the variable you wanted to make on the PezDispenser would have been a member variable, by default it's best practice to make these private,, so we would have still had to call a public method so that other classes in our code could access it.
Basically it comes down a method being needed in any case, either so that we can pass the method onto a PezDispenser object, or, so that other classes would have access to that portion of our code.
Thanks, let me know if this helps or not.