DEBE : Java Glossary

DEBE
DEBE (Does Everything But Eat). A multipurpose utility on the early IBM (International Business Machines) 360 mainframe. The term is used generically for any suite, program, class or method with a ridiculously large number of functions.

In Java, methods or constructors are often overloaded to provide default parameter values or alternate parameter types. The various overloads typically call one mother method or constructor which supports all possible parameters. I call that the DEBE method/constructor even when the number of parameters is not excessive.

The classic book Thinking Forth by Leo Brodie, contains a cartoon poking fun at some DEBE styles of software design where too much functionality is packed into a method or class. The cartoon shows what appears to be a blender. The machine is labeled Processor. Beneath is a toggle switch. One side is labeled food and the other word.

Books

book cover recommend book⇒Thinking Forth
by:Leo Brodie 978-0-9764587-0-8paperback
publisher:Punchy
published:2004-12-27
This book is about using the Forth language, but it is much more. It is about how to solve problems, how to decompose problems into smaller problems, how to use bottom up thinking, how to write re-usable code. This is one of the all time classic programming books written by a master programmer.
Australian flag abe books anz abe books.co.uk UK flag
German flag abe books.de amazon.co.uk UK flag
German flag amazon.de abe books.ca Canadian flag
Spanish flag iberlibro.com amazon.ca Canadian flag
Spanish flag amazon.es Chapters Indigo Canadian flag
French flag abe books.fr abe books.com American flag
French flag amazon.fr amazon.com American flag
Italian flag abe books.it Barnes & Noble American flag
Italian flag amazon.it Powells American flag
American flag O’Reilly Safari Sony e-books American flag
Kobo UN flag
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock

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