Should I use Interfaces to enforce generics?

Question

If I have the following generic interface:

 public interface IValidator<T> { Boolean IsValid(T entity_); }

Can I use it in the following manner? Is this against Object Oriented Programming guidelines?

 public PathValidator : IValidator<String> { }

adam, this is kinda similar to a suggestion/proposed interface i made to you the other day. i think you're fine adopting this approach 100% - lol stackoverflow.com/questions/4399447/… — jim tollan
– jim tollan, Commented Dec 13, 2010 at 15:59

jason · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-13 15:14:48Z

6

Is that use of Interfaces against any sort of best practice?

No, this is fine and common (assuming that your interface is not empty and has a method signature like bool IsValid(T entity)).

What makes you think it should be? If you let us know, we can elaborate.

answered Dec 13, 2010 at 15:14

jason

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4 Comments

adamwtiko Over a year ago

Yeah I have something basically along the lines of bool isValid(T entity). I assumed it might be going against what most people would do as I'm specifying the type on the definition of the class. Which I thought might make you think the generic interface was useless.

jason Over a year ago

@Adam Witko: Well, consider the alternative: interface IStringValidator { bool IsValid(string s); }, interface IFooValidator { bool IsValid(Foo f); }, etc. Is that better?

adamwtiko Over a year ago

I'd have to say probably not!

jason Over a year ago

@Adam Witko: Then it's clear now why the generic interface is a Good practice?

Jan · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-13 15:15:37Z

0

Of cause not, just take a look at the generic collection interfaces like IList.

answered Dec 13, 2010 at 15:15

Jan

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Comments

John Feminella · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-13 15:16:52Z

If this is actually the body of the interface, it's generally not a good idea to have an interface with no contract (that is, it doesn't require you to implement any methods). Usually this is suggestive of a problem with your design.

CodesInChaos · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-13 15:17:34Z

An empty interface (Marker interface) is usually bad practice because you should use an Attribute instead.

But if it's only empty because you omitted it to simplify the example then it looks perfectly fine to me.

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