Is it a good practice? ``` data class Property( ...

# announcements

[thiagoretondar]

Is it a good practice?

data class Property(
    val name: String,
    val value: String
)

data class Element(
    val name: String,
    val properties: List<Property>?,
    val elements: List<Element>?  ---> REFERENCE ITSELF
)

[dalexander]

Also I would just use a Map<String, String> instead of a List<Property> unless Property is a placeholder for something more complex than two strings.

[Ruckus]

@dalexander That would be semantically different. There's no indication name can't repeat, or it may just be that order is important and uniqueness is handled manually.

[dalexander]

You at-ed the wrong person. But I suppose that's true.

[Ruckus]

Yeah, the list updated right before I hit enter 😠

[dalexander]

Generally something called "properties" can't / doesn't want to have duplicates though, which is why I added that.

[Ruckus]

Agreed. I actually have a similar issue in a project I'm working on where I have to use a List and handle uniqueness manually as being able to change the order is important, which is why it came to mind.

[Hullaballoonatic]

Also a data class comes with field names for the "key" and "value" which is syntactically pleasing 😉

[Ruckus]

So does Map.Entry, or am I missing your point?

[Hullaballoonatic]

Instead of entry.key you have property.name which is more context.

[Ruckus]

Ah, I see what you're saying. Sorry about that 🙂

[Hullaballoonatic]

I could have explained it better 🙃

[Hullaballoonatic]

When I use maps I always feel I have to write really verbose variable names

val firstNameToNameOfFavoritePet: Map<String, String> = ...