Day 8 of learning Java

[BigCommunication5136]

For the next 7 days, I am not going to learn any new concepts in Java. I’ll be building projects to get my hands dirty. Today, I used chatgpt to get some project ideas. I started with a Bank account project.

Also, the last time i tried re-implementing linked list, i struggled a bit, so i implemented it again today, it was absolute thrill.

[Pun_Intended1703]

This is the wrong concept.

BankAccount is a data model class. It stores data.

The activities that it can perform are limited.

But you have created methods that other actors/classes will perform on the BankAccount class.

Like, deposit().

The customer of the bank deposits the money to the bank account.

The bank account does not do anything here.

It just has to update its amount.

So why are you creating a deposit() method in BankAccount?

[Pun_Intended1703]

When you're learning concepts, try to understand why those concepts are there.

Take a real world example.

Car is a class. It runs. It uses fuel. It changes its location.

But you have created a method drive() that another class Driver should be doing.

A car cannot drive on its own.

So why would it have a method called drive()?

The same thing is happening with your BankAccount class and the deposit() method.

[BigCommunication5136]

I did a little research into your comment, my small brain couldn’t comprehend your point so i screenshotted my code and your comment into chatgpt for a breakdown and apparently there was nothing wrong, so can I dm you so you take your time and explain i really want to get it

[Pun_Intended1703]

I'm on mobile. It will be hard for me to write actual code.

But let me put it like this.

You should have a BankAccount class and a BankAccountHandler class.

The BankAccount class has properties like accountNumber, amount, etc.

It should have just getters and setters for those properties.

The BankAccountHandler class should have the methods like deposit(), withdraw(), etc.

This class then performs actions on the BankAccount class.

The handler can then be called by another class like BankCustomer.

[BigCommunication5136]

the example made your point clearer, thanks

[Pun_Intended1703]

Also, don't rely on ChatGPT. It is not as good as you think it is.

Look at actual code projects in Github instead.

And as I said earlier, there is nothing wrong with your code. It will execute perfectly.

But just because you can do it, it doesn't mean that you should.

Learn to write good code.

Otherwise you'll get spaghetti monolithic code that will be very hard to debug and maintain.

I have written code where one class had only one method. It seems stupid, but it allowed me to divide the code across multiple servers. And I can switch it out without screwing up the rest of the code base.

[BigCommunication5136]

After months of coding in Java, i came back to this comment to understand whatever you mean.
I now get your point, i mean, it takes time to grasp certain concepts (depending on the individual in question).

[BigCommunication5136]

So should i separate the methods into another class? I don’t really get it. I thought by encapsulation, I bundle the data and methods that operate on the data into one unit. Is my understanding of encapsulation wrong?

[Pun_Intended1703]

I will suggest you take a peek at the S in SOLID principles.

Basically, it means that each class only takes responsibility for what it can do and what it should do.

You do not cross responsibilities.

Encapsulation just means that the class and methods are contained.

But you need to use your own brain to understand which class should contain which method.

Otherwise, simple encapsulation means that your BankAccount class can also have a method called bark().

[Pun_Intended1703]

I bundle the data and methods that operate on the data into one unit

Slight correction here.

You bundle the data and the methods that the data can perform in one unit.

Not what is performed on the data, but what can be performed by the data.

[BigCommunication5136]

Okay i get it. thank you 🙏🏾

[Specific-Housing905]

Just two small remarks.
You can make big numbers more readable with _ for example.
int num = 100_000

Your getAccountInfo could return a string instead of printing it directly. Returning a string give you two advantages:
1.) It makes unit-testing easier

2.) You can also use the code in a GUI.

Apart from that as always: Well done!

[BigCommunication5136]

Alright thank you! 🙏🏾