Helper Classes

• C programmers create helper functions
• C++ programers create helper classes

If your class has to do several things, then it may help to break it down into sub-classes.

Consider a container that is a hash table using filesystem storage. It may be useful to create a subclass that stores a single item in the filesystem. Now, create a hash table class that stores the filesystem objects. You can debug each class separately, and each class does only one thing.

We didn’t evolve to do object-oriented programming. Our brains aren’t designed to do this sort of thing. They’re not very good at it. Therefore, keep each class simple & managable.

Objections

“Having two classes will increase overhead.”

May I see your profiling data? Oh, you don’t have any? Yeah, I thought so. Your intuition is a poor guide, here.

“But I don’t want to write two classes!”

If you’re afraid of writing classes, then C++ is not for you. Practice the phrase, “Can I supersize that for you?”