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Discover how to improve your C# code by optimizing object hierarchy for date time ranges, using enums for better clarity and maintainability.
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Streamlining Your TimeRange Model: Finding the Right Object Hierarchy

In the realm of object-oriented programming, creating a clear and efficient class structure is a key aspect of software design. A common challenge faced by developers, especially those new to the craft, is deciding on the right way to model complex data structures. Today, we’ll unravel a specific case—optimizing a TimeRange object hierarchy in C# . In this post, we’ll explore the initial setup of your classes, examine the benefits of refinement, and provide a solution that streamlines your code for better performance and maintainability.

Identifying the Challenge

You have a basic setup with three classes designed to represent different types of time ranges. Here’s the current implementation:

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You’re contemplating whether to simplify this hierarchy by merging the two child classes (ActTimeRange and PlannedTimeRange) into a single parent class, perhaps by introducing a boolean property (e.g., IsPlanned). The question arises: Which approach is better, both for clarity and performance?

The Proposed Solution: A Unified Model

Given that your derived classes don’t introduce new properties, it offers a great opportunity to condense the structure. Instead of maintaining separate classes, we can introduce an enum to categorize the time ranges. Here’s the refactored approach:

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Benefits of This Approach

Simplified Structure: By unifying the ActTimeRange and PlannedTimeRange into a single class, we eliminate redundancy in your code, making it more straightforward to understand and maintain.

Enhanced Clarity: Using an enumeration (TimeRangeStatus) instead of a boolean property provides more expressive code. It helps avoid ambiguity when passing parameters to methods. For example, instead of writing DoSomething(true, false), you can call it as DoSomething(TimeRangeStatus.Actual, SomeOtherFlag.Red), which is far clearer.

Performance Considerations: Ultimately, performance differences between using inheritance with two separate classes versus a single class with a status property are negligible. The emphasis here should be on code clarity and maintainability rather than micro-optimizations.

When to Use Inheritance vs Composition

Inheritance is useful when you have a clear hierarchy and shared behaviors. It provides a way to extend functionality but can lead to complexity if not managed properly.

Composition (like our proposed solution) offers flexibility and can often be more intuitive, especially when the subclasses do not add distinct behavior or properties.

Conclusion

Refactoring your TimeRange class hierarchy not only simplifies your design but also enhances the clarity of your code. By opting for a single class with an enumeration for status, you're ensuring that your code is both maintainable and easy to understand, which is crucial for long-term project success. As you continue your learning journey in code refactoring and design principles, remember that clarity often trumps micro-performance considerations in the realm of software development.

By implementing solutions like this, you’re one step closer to mastering the art of clean coding. Happy coding!