On 08/02/2012 18:50, David Arno wrote:
Let's have that debate. Replacing static methods with singletons will not improve the testability of the code. If those static methods are deterministic and have no side effects, then they are fine as static methods (and maybe could be turned into global functions as a minor [though controversial] improvement.) Otherwise, they need to go. Global state, whether via singletons, service locator patterns or static methods, always make testing difficult. If we are serious about making the Flex framework unit-testable, then we need to get rid of all of them and replace them with dependency injection throughout the framework.
I could be wrong but I think the plan I wrote about was a step-by-step instruction to get rid of singletons using a intermediate service locator that can be dropped in the end.
To me the first step is to get from "unit tests are impossible" (the current state of the framework) to "they are do-able". Then unit tests could actually be written. With unit tests available it would be safer to ease to a system without a global state.
yours Martin
