Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c++:4525 comp.lang.smalltalk:1323 comp.lang.eiffel:383
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!dptg!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!wuarchive!swbatl!uucigj
From: uucigj@swbatl.UUCP (3531)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.eiffel
Subject: When to make a parent class
Keywords: class levels, parent class
Message-ID: <760@swbatl.UUCP>
Date: 31 Aug 89 12:39:30 GMT
Organization: Southwestern Bell Tele. Co. - Advanced Technology Lab - St. Louis
Lines: 36

Please excuse:

1 - the cross posting, the comp.object is not out yet.
2 - me if this was asked before, I just came up against it.

What I have is the following:

I am making a new class and have defined most of the important methods.
Now I look at the classes that are already established and look for some
common functionality.  I find a class (foo) that has almost every thing
that my new class needs except there are several methods that I definitely
do not need in my new class.  

And now my questions: 
	I understand that there is no right answer to this but I would like to
get a general feeling as to what to do with the methods that do not fit my
new class. Do I 1) make my class a sub class and stub out the methods that
don't fit, 2) go above foo and put a new class between foo and its parent
and leave out the methods that I don't need for my class and then sub class
off of this new class, or 3) do something else ?

	Something that I think affects this, is the number of methods that don't
fit.  If you were to do 1 before 2 what is the point that makes you go to
2?

Since this probably has been talked about before (and maybe even flamed),
please e-mail responses.


      Gregg Jensen
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