Humans get bored after line five. Humans get bored after line five. TL;DR: Refactor and extract functions longer than 5 lines. TL;DR: Refactor and extract functions longer than 5 lines. Problems 😔 Low cohesion
High coupling
Hard to read
Low reusability Low cohesion High coupling Hard to read Low reusability Solutions 😃 Refactor
Create small objects to handle specific tasks. Unit-test them.
Compose methods
Divide and conquer Refactor Refactor Create small objects to handle specific tasks. Unit-test them. Compose methods Divide and conquer Divide and conquer Refactorings ⚙️ https://maximilianocontieri.com/refactoring-010-extract-method-object?embedable=true https://maximilianocontieri.com/refactoring-010-extract-method-object?embedable=true https://hackernoon.com/refactoring-025-decompose-regular-expressions?embedable=true https://hackernoon.com/refactoring-025-decompose-regular-expressions?embedable=true https://hackernoon.com/improving-the-code-one-line-at-a-time?embedable=true https://hackernoon.com/improving-the-code-one-line-at-a-time?embedable=true Examples Libraries Libraries Context 💬 When you write a long function, you hide too many details in one place. You force the reader to hold multiple concepts in mind. You mix unrelated responsibilities and make the code hard to test. You create a rigid block that breaks easily when you change it. Short, focused functions let you read, test, and modify code faster. Sample Code 📖 Wrong 🚫 <?

function setUpChessBoard() {
    $this->placeOnBoard($this->whiteTower);
    $this->placeOnBoard($this->whiteKnight);
    // A lot more lines
    
    // Empty space to pause definition
    $this->placeOnBoard($this->blackTower);
    $this->placeOnBoard($this->blackKnight);
    // A lot more lines
} <?

function setUpChessBoard() {
    $this->placeOnBoard($this->whiteTower);
    $this->placeOnBoard($this->whiteKnight);
    // A lot more lines
    
    // Empty space to pause definition
    $this->placeOnBoard($this->blackTower);
    $this->placeOnBoard($this->blackKnight);
    // A lot more lines
} Right 👉 <?

function setUpChessBoard() {
    $this->placeWhitePieces();
    $this->placeBlackPieces();
} <?

function setUpChessBoard() {
    $this->placeWhitePieces();
    $this->placeBlackPieces();
} Detection 🔍 [x]Automatic [x]Automatic [x] All linters can measure and warn when methods exceed a predefined threshold. Tags 🏷️ Bloaters Bloaters Level 🔋 [x]Beginner [x]Beginner [x] Why the Bijection Is Important 🗺️ A real-world action should map to a clear, concise function. real-world When you pack many actions into one function, you lose that mapping. Developers must mentally reconstruct the steps, which slows comprehension and increases errors. AI Generation 🤖 AI generators often create long functions if you give them vague prompts. They tend to cram all logic into one place unless you explicitly request modular code. AI Detection 🥃 AI tools can fix this smell with the right instructions to split code into small, focused functions. Try Them! 🛠 Remember: AI Assistants make lots of mistakes Remember: AI Assistants make lots of mistakes Suggested Prompt: Convert it to more declarative Suggested Prompt: Convert it to more declarative Without Proper Instructions

With Specific Instructions



ChatGPT

ChatGPT



Claude

Claude



Perplexity

Perplexity



Copilot

Copilot



You

You



Gemini

Gemini



DeepSeek

DeepSeek



Meta AI

Meta AI



Grok

Grok



Qwen

Qwen Without Proper Instructions

With Specific Instructions



ChatGPT

ChatGPT



Claude

Claude



Perplexity

Perplexity



Copilot

Copilot



You

You



Gemini

Gemini



DeepSeek

DeepSeek



Meta AI

Meta AI



Grok

Grok



Qwen

Qwen Without Proper Instructions

With Specific Instructions Without Proper Instructions Without Proper Instructions With Specific Instructions With Specific Instructions ChatGPT

ChatGPT ChatGPT ChatGPT ChatGPT ChatGPT ChatGPT ChatGPT Claude

Claude Claude Claude Claude Claude Claude Claude Perplexity

Perplexity Perplexity Perplexity Perplexity Perplexity Perplexity Perplexity Copilot

Copilot Copilot Copilot Copilot Copilot Copilot Copilot You

You You You You You You You Gemini

Gemini Gemini Gemini Gemini Gemini Gemini Gemini DeepSeek

DeepSeek DeepSeek DeepSeek DeepSeek DeepSeek DeepSeek DeepSeek Meta AI

Meta AI Meta AI Meta AI Meta AI Meta AI Meta AI Meta AI Grok

Grok Grok Grok Grok Grok Grok Grok Qwen

Qwen Qwen Qwen Qwen Qwen Qwen Qwen Conclusion 🏁 Extract long methods into smaller pieces. Break complex algorithms into parts. You can also unit test these parts. Relations 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xv https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xv https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xxi https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xxi https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xlii https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xlii https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xxii https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xxii https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xv https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xv https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xxxi https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xxxi https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xvii https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-xvii More Information 📕 https://refactoring.guru/es/smells/long-method?embedable=true https://refactoring.guru/es/smells/long-method?embedable=true Also Known as Long Method Long Method Credits 🙏 Photo by Hari Panicker on Unsplash Hari Panicker Unsplash Programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute. Programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute. Donald Knuth Donald Knuth https://hackernoon.com/400-thought-provoking-software-engineering-quotes?embedable=true https://hackernoon.com/400-thought-provoking-software-engineering-quotes?embedable=true This article is part of the CodeSmell Series. https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-i-xqz3evd?embedable=true https://hackernoon.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code-part-i-xqz3evd?embedable=true

Unit

Refactoring 032 - Apply Consistent Style Rules

Code Smell 308 - The Key to Safer, Cleaner, More Polymorphic Code

Buy My Book

Share your ideas with me!

Read My Stories

Buy Me a Coffee

Too Long; Didn't Read

Make resilience your competitive advantage

Code Smell 03: Functions Are Too Long - Here's How to Fix That

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

Untitled Story

10 Predictions About the Future of Finance

The Art of Reviewing: Tips from HackerNoon Editors

Why Cloud File Management Still Feels Broken (And What IT Pros Actually Do About It)

106 Stories To Learn About Clean Code

100 Pieces of Programming Advice from the Book Clean Code by Robert Martin

10 Predictions About the Future of Finance

The Art of Reviewing: Tips from HackerNoon Editors

Why Cloud File Management Still Feels Broken (And What IT Pros Actually Do About It)

106 Stories To Learn About Clean Code

100 Pieces of Programming Advice from the Book Clean Code by Robert Martin

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps