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POWhen to Subclass instead of differentiating the behaviour
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  1. POWhen to Subclass instead of differentiating the behaviour
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    copied!<p>I'm having difficulties deciding when I should be subclassing instead of just adding an instance variable that represents different modes of the class and then let the methods of the class act according to the selected mode.</p> <p>For example, say I've a <em>base car</em> class. In my program I'll deal with three different types of cars. <em>Race cars</em>, <em>busses</em> and <em>family models</em>. Each will have their own implementation of gears, how they turn and seat setup. Should I subclass my car into the three different models or should I create a type variable and make the gears, turning and seating generic so they would act different depending on which car type was selected?</p> <p>In my current situation I'm working on a game, and I've come to realise that it's starting to get a bit messy, so I ask advice on possibly refactoring of my current code. Basically there are different maps, and each map can be one of three modes. Depending on which mode the map is defined as there will be different behaviour and the map will be built in a different way. In one mode I might have to give out rentals to players and spawn creatures on a timeout basis, wherein another the player is responsable for spawning the creatures and yet in another there might be some automated spawned creatures alongside with player spawned ones and players constructing buildings. So I'm wondering whether it would be best to have a base map class, and then subclass it into each of the different modes, or whether to continue down my current path of adding differentiated behaviour depending on what the map type variable is set to.</p>
 

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