How do you return two values from a single method?

Question

When your in a situation where you need to return two things in a single method, what is the best approach?

I understand the philosophy that a method should do one t

Answer 1

My choice is #4. Define a reference parameter in your function. That pointer references to a Value Object.

In PHP:

class TwoValuesVO {
  public $expectedOne;
  public $expectedTwo;
}

/* parameter $_vo references to a TwoValuesVO instance */
function twoValues( & $_vo ) {
  $vo->expectedOne = 1;
  $vo->expectedTwo = 2;
}

In Java:

class TwoValuesVO {
  public int expectedOne;
  public int expectedTwo;
}

class TwoValuesTest {
  void twoValues( TwoValuesVO vo ) {
    vo.expectedOne = 1;
    vo.expectedTwo = 2;
  }
}