Embracing Objects Over Statics: An Analysis of Method Preferences in Open Source Java Frameworks

TL;DR

This study investigates Java framework usage, revealing that developers prefer object-oriented practices with more instance methods, contrary to the assumption that static methods would be favored for performance.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on method preferences in open-source Java frameworks, challenging assumptions about static method dominance for performance reasons.

Findings

Predominant use of instance methods and constructors

Developers favor object-oriented approaches despite overhead

Contrary to expectations, static methods are less common

Abstract

In today's software development landscape, the extent to which Java applications utilize object-oriented programming paradigm remains a subject of interest. Although some researches point to the considerable overhead associated with object orientation, one might logically assume that modern Java applications would lean towards a procedural style to boost performance, favoring static over instance method calls. In order to validate this assumption, this study scrutinizes the runtime behavior of 28 open-source Java frameworks using the YourKit profiler. Contrary to expectations, our findings reveal a predominant use of instance methods and constructors over static methods. This suggests that developers still favor an object-oriented approach, despite its potential drawbacks.