Basic game loop, what does Update() and HandleInput() mean to you?

Question

I have been developing a game and until now I have been handling input like so:

1. Player presses a key
2. HandleInput() acknowledges a key is pressed calls a function within the Player class which increments the Players position by a pre-determined amount.
3. Update() sets the players sprite to be at the players position.
4. Draw() renders the players sprite.
5. Return to Step 1.

Now my question is this, should I continue to run my loop in this way or should I implement the following:

• HandleInput() sets a state within the Player class which when Update() is called the Player object checks if it is in a state of motion and updates its location appropriately, before updating the sprite to its new location.

This question arose within me while I was altering my loop so that only the Update() function had a maximum refresh rate (60 cycles per second) and I realized I was unsure how I should appropriately communicate events to the objects on how they should act.

I did not include any code as we're discussing in pseudo-code if you feel some is required let me know.

Answer 1

The second possibility seems better, for two reasons:

Each part does have its own job.

The Update function should have every sprite movement handling, while HandleInput should only listen input and tell Update what to do.

Give more possibility

Imagine that you would want to give some inertia to your player. The code to make it move would become more complex, maybe something like that:

const sf::Vector2f& movement = player.currentMovement();
if (player.isMoving())
{
    player.speed += 1.0;
}
player.speed *= 0.95;
player.move(movement * player.speed);

Instead of a simple player.move(movement).
So here the code become longer. And it would become even more if you do a more complex movement system.

This piece of code in HandleInput function would seems to not be at its place, as it is clearly a data update. But it would look better to see it in Update function, while movement variable and player moving boolean would be initialized in HandleInput, depending of which keys are currently pressed.