Are there any Java method ordering conventions

Question

I ve got a large-ish class  40 or so methods  that is part of a package I will be submitting as course-work  Currently  the methods are pretty jumbled up in terms of utility public private etc  and I want to order them in a sensible way  Is there a standard way of doing this  E g  normally fields are listed before methods  the constructor s  are listed before other methods  and getters setters last  what about the remaining methods

User · Accepted Answer

Some conventions list all the public methods first, and then all the private ones - that means it's easy to separate the API from the implementation, even when there's no interface involved, if you see what I mean.

Another idea is to group related methods together - this makes it easier to spot seams where you could split your existing large class into several smaller, more targeted ones.

User · Answer

Are you using Eclipse  If so I would stick with the default member sort order  because that is likely to be most familiar to whoever reads your code  although it is not my favourite sort order

User · Answer

Class  static  variables  First the public class variables  then the protected  and then the private  Instance variables  First public  then protected  and then private  Constructors Methods  These methods should be grouped by functionality rather than by scope or accessibility  For example  a private class method can be in between two public instance methods  The goal is to make reading and understanding the code easier    Source  http   www oracle com technetwork java codeconventions-141855 html

User · Answer

My  convention   static before instance  public before private  constructor before methods  but main method at the bottom  if present

User · Answer

The more precise link to   Code Conventions      Class and Interface Declarations

User · Answer

Also  eclipse offers the possibility to sort class members for you  if you for some reason mixed them up   Open your class file  the go to  Source  in the main menu and select  Sort Members    taken from here  Sorting methods in Eclipse

User · Answer

Not sure if there is universally accepted standard but my own preferences are    constructors first  static methods next  if there is a main method  always before other static methods non static methods next  usually in order of the significance of the method followed by any methods that it calls  This means that public methods that call other class methods appear towards the top and private methods that call no other methods usually end up towards the bottom standard methods like toString  equals and hashcode next getters and setters have a special place reserved right at the bottom of the class

User · Answer

40 methods in a single class is a bit much   Would it make sense to move some of the functionality into other - suitably named - classes   Then it is much easier to make sense of   When you have fewer  it is much easier to list them in a natural reading order   A frequent paradigm is to list things either before or after you need them   in the order you need them   This usually means that main   goes on top or on bottom

[java] Are there any Java method ordering conventions?

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