Talk:Method stub

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I'm not sure if the second definition (stub = hack) is correct. I thought that a hack should actually work but a stub doesn't.


I agree that the second definition (contributed by the otherwise anonymous user who identified himself/herself as "MJ") seems wrong/off. I think this second usage is slippery and even slangy. A stub is more very specifically a temporary or stop-gap routine (or at least a skeleton of one--it could just return fixed output, for instance) deliberately used in development/testing whereas a hack is more likely to arise from necessity than convenience. (Hacks, kludges and workarounds all kind of have overlapping meaning/usage.) And a hack can take any form—whereas a stub kind of tends to imply a single routine / entry point.

Besides, since the entry is headed "Method stub" we should stick with the C.S. definition rather than sloppy, slangy interpretations.
—Iguana Scales 20:27, 21 June 2006 (UTC)