Practical Object-Oriented Design: An Agile Primer Using Ruby

by Metz Sandi

When the future cost of doing nothing is the same as the current cost, postpone the decision. Make the decision only when you must with the information you have at that time. Even though there’s a good argument for leaving Gear as is for the time being, you could also make a defensible argument that it should be changed. The structure of every class is a message to future maintainers of the application. It reveals your design intentions. For better or for worse, the patterns you establish today will be replicated forever. Gear lies about your intentions. It is neither usable nor exemplary. It has multiple responsibilities and so should not be reused. It is not a pattern that should be replicated. There is a chance that someone else will reuse Gear or create new code that follows its pattern while you are waiting for better information.

When to improve