Design Patterns Java™ Workbook

Summary

Although it is common to intermingle the meanings of operation, method, signature, and algorithm, preserving distinctions among these terms helps to describe important concepts. An operation is, like a signature, a specification of a service. The word operation applies when talking about the idea that many methods may have the same interface. The word signature applies when discussing method lookup rules. A method definition in-cludes its signature—its name and parameter list—along with modifiers, return type, a throws clause, and the method's body. A method has a signature and implements an operation.

An algorithm is a procedure that accepts inputs and produces outputs. Methods accept inputs, produce outputs, and contain a procedural ...