34: Matt Machuga - Dealing with Dependencies in Active Record Models

In this episode, Matt Machuga of Think Through Math returns to talk with Adam about design options when you find yourself wanting access to a collaborator in an Active Record or Eloquent model. They discuss the pros and cons of four specific designs, and finish off with their personal recommendations.

Show Notes

Topics include:

• Are facades and service location automatically bad?
• Are NounVerber classes anti-OO?
• Adding a layer of composition to create domain models with dependencies
• Using method injection for a temporary dependency
• Using optional parameters to improve testability

Code snippets:

• Option 1: Facades/Service Location/Global Access
• Option 2: Moving the responsibility to a new class
• Option 3: Composing a new domain model
• Option 4a: Inject the dependency into the method
• Option 4b: Optional method injection w/global fallback

Links:

• Matt's blog
• "Agent nouns are code smells" by Peter Gillard-Moss
• Nitpick CI, Adam's PSR-2 style checking service
• "Dependency injection is not a virtue" by DHH
• Erie Day of Code, Matt's conference
• Sponsored by Laracasts

What is Full Stack Radio?

A podcast for developers interested in building great software products. Every episode, Adam Wathan is joined by a guest to talk about everything from product design and user experience to unit testing and system administration.