Java – Are there any problems with using class variables in Java that can be accessed by any method

designjavajava8methodsobject-oriented-design

So I've been coding in Java for a decent amount of time, but recently, I've started a class that cares about my coding design. In the past, if I had two methods inside a class that needed to edit the same variable, I would make the variable a class variable. However, I know that some people prefer creating their methods to take in the explicit parameters, and then return the edited version. This results in pretty much the same effect as what I usually do, but I was wondering if there is an advantage one way or the other.

Example 1:

    public class foo{
        private static String toBeEdited;

        private static void main(String args[]){
            toBeEdited = "Original string";
            editingMethod();
            ... Code that uses the toBeEdited variable with its new value...
        }
        private static void editingMethod(){
            toBeEdited = "Edited String";
        }
    }

Example 2:

    public class foo{

        private static void main(String args[]){
            String toBeEdited;
            toBeEdited = "Original string";
            toBeEdited = editingMethod(toBeEdited);
            ... Code that uses the toBeEdited variable with its new value...
        }
        private static String editingMethod(String tBE){
            tBE = "Edited String";
            return tBE;
        }
    }

Thanks!

Best Answer

The advantage of 1 is lower Arity, it has fewer arguments. The fewer there are the easier they are to remember.

The advantage of 2 is that it's effect and dependency are explicit. Where it's used it's obvious that it will use a string and that it will change a string.

Both impact readability but 2 is a huge improvement where 1 is only a small improvement.

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