[jgit-dev] Avoiding unnecessary use of "final"

[Jonathan Nieder <jrn@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

Context: https://git.eclipse.org/r/c/122605/

https://gerrit-review.googlesource.com/Documentation/dev-contributing.html#style contains:

When to use `final` modifier and when not (in new code):

Always:

  * final fields: marking fields as final forces them to be

  initialized in the constructor or at declaration

  * final static fields: clearly communicates the intent

  * to use final variables in inner anonymous classes

Optional:

  * final classes: use when appropriate, e.g. API restriction

  * final methods: similar to final classes

Never:

  * local variables: it clutters the code, and makes the code less

  readable. When copying old code to new location, finals should

  be removed

  * method parameters: similar to local variables

I'm enough used to this that I had assumed JGit uses the same style, but now that I check https://wiki.eclipse.org/EGit/Contributor_Guide#Coding_standards I don't see it. I would like to propose we adopt the same standards.

Objections? Are there tools that can update older parts of the codebase that overuse 'final' (just like older parts of Gerrit did)? Other thoughts?

Thanks,

Jonathan