Should I use an interface or factory (and interface) for a cross-platform implementation?

Posted by nbolton on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by nbolton
Published on 2010-06-08T14:02:28Z Indexed on 2010/06/08 14:22 UTC
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Example A:

// pseudo code
interface IFoo {
    void bar();
}

class FooPlatformA : IFoo {
    void bar() { /* ... */ }
}

class FooPlatformB : IFoo {
    void bar() { /* ... */ }
}

class Foo : IFoo {
    IFoo m_foo;
    public Foo() {
        if (detectPlatformA()} {
            m_foo = new FooPlatformA();
        } else {
            m_foo = new FooPlatformB();
        }
    }

    // wrapper function - downside is we'd have to create one 
    // of these for each function, which doesn't seem right.
    void bar() {
        m_foo.bar();
    }
}

Main() {
    Foo foo = new Foo();
    foo.bar();
}

Example B:

// pseudo code
interface IFoo {
    void bar();
}

class FooPlatformA : IFoo {
    void bar() { /* ... */ }
}

class FooPlatformB : IFoo {
    void bar() { /* ... */ }
}

class FooFactory {
    IFoo newFoo() {
        if (detectPlatformA()} {
            return new FooPlatformA();
        } else {
            return new FooPlatformB();
        }
    }
}

Main() {
    FooFactory factory = new FooFactory();
    IFoo foo = factory.newFoo();
    foo.bar();
}

Which is the better option, example A, B, neither, or "it depends"?

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