Java For Dummies, 9th Edition

Chapter 10

Saving Time and Money: Reusing Existing Code

IN THIS CHAPTER

Adding new life to old code

Tweaking your code

Making changes without spending a fortune

reuse /ree-YOOSS/ noun The act of using something for the nth time, where n is greater than 1. Example: “Reuse of the material in Java For Dummies, 9th Edition, is strictly prohibited.”

Reuse is good but, in many situations, reuse is a rarity. For example, in the United States, the Department of Agriculture estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the nation's food goes to waste. And, according to one source, only 9 percent of the world's plastics are recycled.

Information goes to waste too. When I revised this chapter for the eighth edition, I decided not to reuse the seventh edition's chapter introduction. (That introduction's made-up story isn't amusing in the least.) In desperation, I looked at some of my other books to find an introduction that I could reuse for this chapter. No luck! I came up empty-handed.

I can't even reuse paragraphs to explain common concepts. My description of Java classes from another book wouldn't work well in this book. I've even experienced times when I had to scrap sections in several chapters ...