> This avoids cluttering up the base class with loads of methods which won't be meaningful for most of the types I'd argue that shelfLife is meaningful for all Items, and it's unnecessarily presumptuous to assume only…
Biological taxonomy is just not a good analogy. Object behavior hierarchies aren't analogous to any real world thing, IME. They are what they are.
> This avoids cluttering up the base class with loads of methods which won't be meaningful for most of the types I'd argue that shelfLife is meaningful for all Items, and it's unnecessarily presumptuous to assume only…
Biological taxonomy is just not a good analogy. Object behavior hierarchies aren't analogous to any real world thing, IME. They are what they are.