Passing whole object vs passing object's property

Question

I\'m thinking about the solution for my application. Here\'s the situation: I have a class with a method that takes ObjectA as an input parameter and calls several small met

Answer 1

I'd say, it depends. A method may be clearer and more general if it operates on the arguments rather than requiring a whole object. Sometimes you have the arguments ready (e.g., x and y) and would have to aggregate them first into e.g. a Point in order to be able to call the method. Sometimes you have a different unrelated object (e.g., some ImmutablePoint, obviously not extending java.awt.Point) and would have to extract the coordinates and create an object to pass.

Usually, if the passed object is the proper abstraction, then passing it as a whole is the way to go. It's not a performance question, it's about readability and maintainability. See also the Law of Demeter which may lead to looser dependency on the passed object.