Don't Help

Master Suku was reviewing code in a distant temple when she asked a senior monk to take supper with her.

“I am hoping that you can help me,” said Suku as she stirred a pot hanging over the fire. “In your clan’s code I found the classes SubmissionEntity, SubmissionDatabase, and SubmissionClient. Although Entity, Database, and Client are not the naming conventions of my own temple, your monks use them consistently, and their purpose is clear. Yet here and there I have also found classes like SubmissionEntityHelper, SubmissionDatabaseHelper, and SubmissionClientHelper. What are these Helpers?”

“Sometimes decorators, sometimes adapters, sometimes static utilities,” said the monk. “Sometimes all or none of these.”

Suku returned with two bowls, which she set before herself and the monk. In her bowl was a beautifully grilled salmon on a bed of saffron rice, drizzled with honey-mirin sauce and garnished with toasted sesame seeds and curls of green onion. In the monk’s bowl was only a large pink blob the texture of toothpaste. It quivered slightly.

“What is it?” asked the monk, poking nervously at the blob with his spoon.

“I found it in a tumbledown market on the ragged end of town,” said Suku, pouring herself some tea. “They call it Fish Helper.”