GraphStream setAttribute( ) vs addAttribute( )

Question

I don't understand the difference between setAttribute( ) and addAttribute( ) in GraphStream1.3.

In GraphStream's Element API 1.3 it's explained that setAttribute is

Like addAttribute() but for consistency.

what does it means?

Answer 1

It is most likely that they mean api consistency with this wording; overall consistency between their own API or what developers might expect to find in general in the API of a Java library.

For example properties on Java Beans (pojo's) are usually implemented as getter and setter methods by convention (rather than language features, as can be found in C#).

So perhaps the graphstream devs wanted to have both getAttribute and setAttribute in a similar fashion.

This can be confirmed by checking one of the Known Implementing Classes as listed in the javadoc; for example org.graphstream.graph.implementations.AbstractElement, where the setAttribute method is just calling addAttribute directly:

    /**
     * @complexity O(log(n)) with n being the number of attributes of this
     *             element.
     */
    public void setAttribute(String attribute, Object... values) {
        addAttribute(attribute, values);
    }

Taken from the decompiled jar or the sources jar of the following artifact.