Type Conversion vs. Composition: Which Approach Best Handles Collections of Slices with Varying Types?

Common Behaviour for Collections of Slices

When working with collections of slices of different types, such as ClockInterval and Period, a common challenge arises in defining consistent behaviour for functions like FindEnclosingHalfOpenInterval.

Type Conversion

One approach is to convert slices from one type to another, which can be addressed by creating a new slice and iteratively converting each element.

Composition

An alternative approach is composition, where the common behaviour is implemented in a base struct and inherited by the specific types. This involves creating separate types for ClockInterval and PeriodInterval, each with sorting and GetEnclosingInterval functions implementing the same common behaviour via the base struct.

Advantages of Composition

Advantages of composition include:

• Reduced code duplication by implementing common functionality in the base struct.
• Encapsulation of common behaviour, simplifying maintenance and ensuring consistency.

Disadvantages of Composition

• Potential for increased code complexity, making it harder to follow the flow of execution.
• Requirement for convenience functions to access the inner slice from outside the struct, introducing additional boilerplate code.

Choosing the Right Approach

The choice between type conversion and composition depends on the specific use cases and constraints of the code. Type conversion may be more suitable if elements need to be directly accessed from the converted slice. Composition is a better option if common behaviour needs to be shared across multiple types without the need for direct access to the underlying slice.

It's important to note that overly generalizing in Go by avoiding code duplication for different types may not always be the most effective approach. Duplicating code for specific types can sometimes enhance code clarity and maintainability.

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