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in reply to Re^2: The joys of bad code
in thread The joys of bad code
Glad somebody was brave enough to ask. It seems like reasonable code to me, too. There are better ways to do it in other languages, but if you're writing in VB, you have to live with the limitations that implies. (In Perl I'd either use DateTime or make it a hash lookup.)
"There is no shame in being self-taught, only in not trying to learn in the first place." -- Atrus, Myst: The Book of D'ni.
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Re^4: The joys of bad code
by demerphq (Chancellor) on Oct 26, 2004 at 17:36 UTC
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A hash lookup? Why not an array? Anyway, i wouldnt have laughed so hard if it had been written something like the following:
Public Function GetMonthName(ByVal m As Long, _
Optional ByVal abbr As Boolean = False) As String
Static Months(12) As String
If (Months(1) <> "January") Then
Months(1) = "January"
Months(2) = "February"
Months(3) = "March"
Months(4) = "April"
Months(5) = "May"
Months(6) = "June"
Months(7) = "July"
Months(8) = "August"
Months(9) = "September"
Months(10) = "October"
Months(11) = "November"
Months(12) = "December"
End If
Dim tmp As String
If (m >= 1 And m <= 12) Then
tmp = Months(m)
Else
tmp = Format(m, "0")
End If
If abbr Then
GetMonthName = Left(tmp, 3)
Else
GetMonthName = tmp
End If
End Function
---
demerphq
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
-- Gandhi
Flux8
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[d/l] |
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An array would work just fine in this case. For things like this, I tend to automatically (for better or for worse) reach for a hash, as I usually need to do the lookup based on a string.
Even so, I don't think the orginal VB code is so bad. The switch statement is probably going to be O(n) (since it can't optimize down to a jump like C's less flexible switch statement can), but the search space is so small that it won't matter much.
I do wonder, though, if this function should be public. If the application is properly OO, this is the sort of detail that should probably be hidden away. I'd have to know more about the overall application to be sure, though.
"There is no shame in being self-taught, only in not trying to learn in the first place." -- Atrus, Myst: The Book of D'ni.
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I thought you were laughing because he used Format(m,"0") in his CASE ELSE statement, while Format(date,"mmm") or Format(date,"mmmm") would have given him the results he was looking for in the first place.
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Well, this code has to be locale independent so I actually can sympathise with this approach. We normally deploy onto German Computers but we also end up on various others as well and the output has to be english regardless so I can see why he took this approach than figuring out how to override the users locale settings. (OTOH if you know an easy way to do it im all ears :-)
---
demerphq
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
-- Gandhi
Flux8
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coupling is something I noticed. if you call *GetMonthName* and pass an arg for the month name, than another arg to abbreviate. The same effect could be obtained writing a formatting function, Format(GetMonthName(arg), "mmm") or even better as you suggest calling Date.
having the formatting within the function may be a short cut for now but I bet at sometime changes could be made introducing bugs.
its also pretty common trap to reimplement (usually poorly) functions that pre-exist.
Janitored by Arunbear - retitled from 'coupling', as per Monastery guidelines
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Re^4: The joys of bad code
by Dylan (Monk) on Oct 26, 2004 at 17:37 UTC
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An array lookup would work, too. | [reply] |
Re^4: The joys of bad code
by jdporter (Chancellor) on Oct 28, 2004 at 17:47 UTC
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Actually, there's a pretty nifty native way to do this. Probably less efficient than a hash lookup, but more consistent.
Function MyMonthName(ByVal m As Long, Optional ByVal appr As Boolean =
+ False) As String
Dim v
v = CDate("2004-" & m & "-01")
Dim fmt As String
If appr Then
fmt = "MMM"
Else
fmt = "MMMM"
End If
MyMonthName = Format(v, fmt)
End Function
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[d/l] |
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