[logback-dev] RFC: LoggingEvent redesign

[Ceki Gulcu]

Joern Huxhorn wrote:
> 
> On 25.02.2009, at 19:33, Ceki Gulcu wrote:
>> The SDOAware interface contains a single method:
>>
>> public interface SDOAware {
>>   Serializable getSDO();
>> }
>>
> 
> It's not necessary for the SDO to implement Serializable. This is only 
> necessary if serialization using ObjectOutputStream is used as the 
> persistence method, and this should be an implementation detail hidden 
> from the API.

The getSDO() returns a Serializable precisely because certain logback
classes such as SocketAppenderBase in logback-core, and
JMSQueue/JMSTopicAppender in logback-classic require serializable
objects just before handing them over to an ObjectOutputStream.

So as it currently stands (revision 2170), the LoggingEvent hierarchy
assumes that you can transform a LoggingEvent into a corresponding
serializable LoggingEvet. As things stand as of revision 2170,
serialization is not an implementation detail but actually leaks from
ILoggingEvent interface (because it extends SDOAware).

I don't personally like this leakage but it is there. I welcome ideas
about alternative designs where serialization is really an
implementation detail.

To give an idea, I've looked at adding a writeResolve method in
LoggingEvent so as to replace the current LoggingEvent instance with a
LoggingEventSDO instance. This would obviate the need for the SDOAware
interface. However, the cost of serialization performance is degraded
by about 30% which seems to steep a price.

> Beside that, DTO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Transfer_Object) 
> would probably be a better name since it is known to a wider audience.

Indeed, SDO is probably not a good name. However, aren't DTOs a
mechanism to aggregate data so as to minimize the number of EJB calls?
Also, are DTOs serializable by definition? (I guess they are.) Maybe
VO (Value Object) is a better name than SDO...

> Regards, Joern.

-- 
Ceki Gülcü
Logback: The reliable, generic, fast and flexible logging framework for Java.
http://logback.qos.ch