Augustus Gloop or Twiggy?

Is this (gen'd via Ctrl+Shift+O in Eclipse):

Code:

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import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
import java.io.DataInputStream;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.LineNumberReader;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.net.Socket;
import javax.swing.Box;
import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.ScrollPaneConstants;
import javax.swing.Timer;

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better than this:

Code:

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import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;

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I wondered that for years. But recently I ran into a situation where two classes from different packages had the same name. If I were importing the entire packages, I'd have to use the FQ name everywhere, thereby defeating the purpose of import statements.

Using type-import-on-demand declarations (aka star imports) can also cause a maintenance headache. Consider a contrived example:

Code:

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import java.util.*;
// various other imports
import java.awt.List;
// still more imports

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A maintenance programmer may note the star import of java.util and try to add a List declaration assuming the compiler will treat it as java.util.List -- which it won't, because a single-type-import declaration shadows a type-import-on-demand declaration.
Java Language Specification -- Packages

db

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kjkrum

I wondered that for years. But recently I ran into a situation where two classes from different packages had the same name. If I were importing the entire packages, I'd have to use the FQ name everywhere, thereby defeating the purpose of import statements.

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Not if you used only one of the two identically named classes. And if you do need to use both, you can't escape using the FQN for at least one (but I would use the FQN for both for future readability). Continuing from the last post, this is legal and unambiguously determines that an unqualified List is a java.awt.List. Note that I don't recommend the approach, just sayin'

Code:

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import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.List;

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db