title: OO Solution for Using Single Method
body: <p>I will use Java as an example, but this question really applies across all OO languages:</p>
  
  <p>Say I have several different tab types: Research, Info, and Help, for example.  These are all placed in a JTabbedPane as needed.  Which tabs will be needed varies.  When the user selects a tab containing the Research tab type, it needs to run <code>setStandards()</code>.  The other tab types need not do this.  This can be accomplished in two ways:</p>
  
  <pre><code>if (pane instanceof Research) {
     (Research)pane.setStandards();
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>or by implementing an empty <code>setStandards()</code> method in the Info/Help classes (or their parent).</p>
  
  <p>The first method is ugly, but my question is, is it okay to have the empty method to allow <code>setStandards()</code> to be called on any tab opaquely even if it does nothing?  It just seems a bit silly to have this placeholder method.</p>