Separate decoding / encoding interfaces or one interface

Question

I am creating an implementation that does the conversion from one form to another.

The design problem that I am facing right now is whether Encoder and Decoder API should be in the same interface or in separate ones. for example Apache MINA uses separate interfaces

I am currently doing something like this:

interface Convertor
{
    A encode( B b );

    B decode( A a );
}

The rationale for placing them in one interface is that you can centralize implementations and fix any protocol changes in one place. Any thoughts on this?

Answer 1

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Answer 5

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private IEncoder encoder;
private IDecoder decoder;

public ThingWhichUsesEncodeAndDecode(IEncoder encoder, IDecoder decoder)
{
    this.encoder = encoder;
    this.decoder = decoder;
}

public ThingWhichUsesEncodeAndDecode(IEncoderDecoder both)
{
    this(both, both);
}

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Answer 6

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interface Converter extends Decoder, Encoder { }

Answer 7

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interface Encodable
{
    Decodable encode();
}
interface Decodable
{
    Encodable decode();
}
class A implements Encodable;
class B implements Decodable;

Answer 8

Depends on the application.

If you usually use the encoder and decoder in the same binary format, one interface is fine. If they are usually separated (for example, only encoding a capture application, only decoding a control application), use separate interfaces.