You map concepts to optimized numbers TL;DR: Use real-world constants as constants Problems Bijection Violation
Debugging
Premature Optimization
Maintainability
Type Safety
Limited Extensibility Solutions Use descriptive string constants
Use Enums
Create A Polymorphic Hierarchy Context Numeric constants representing real-world concepts lack readability and make your code harder to understand. It's not clear what each number represents. if you need to add more constants in the future or change the order, you'll have to update all occurrences of these numeric constants manually. New values can introduce errors and make maintenance more difficult. Saving attributes as integers to improve the persistence performance or space is a clear signal of Premature Optimization. Sample Code Wrong public const FORMAT_JPG = 1;
public const FORMAT_GIF = 2;
public const FORMAT_PNG = 3; Right public const string FORMAT_JPG = "JPG";
public const string FORMAT_GIF = "GIF";
public const string FORMAT_PNG = "PNG";

// OR

public enum ImageFormat
{
    JPG,
    GIF,
    PNG
} Detection Semi-Automatic You can tell your linters to warn you about this usage, but they can show you some false positives. Tags Readability Level Beginner AI Generation No models create this premature optimization problem when prompted to list constants. AI Detection ChatGPT and Gemini detected this as a mistake. Conclusion After this correction, your code will be cleaner readable, and self-explanatory for debugging. You can read it and It's clear what each constant represents. If you need to add more formats or change the order, you should update the enumeration definition without affecting the rest of the code. IDEs with auto-completion and error checking will give you better support to work with enums. Relations Code Smell 02 - Constants and Magic Numbers Code Smell 110 - Switches With Defaults Code Smell 20 - Premature Optimization More Info How to Get Rid of Annoying IFs Forever Disclaimer Code Smells are my opinion. Credits Photo by Markus Krisetya on Unsplash Forget this world and all its troubles and if possible its multitudinous Charlatans - everything in short but the Enchantress of Numbers. Ada Lovelace Software Engineering Great Quotes This article is part of the CodeSmell Series. How to Find the Stinky Parts of your Code You map concepts to optimized numbers You map concepts to optimized numbers TL;DR: Use real-world constants as constants TL;DR: Use real-world constants as constants Problems Bijection Violation Debugging Premature Optimization Maintainability Type Safety Limited Extensibility Bijection Violation Debugging Premature Optimization Maintainability Type Safety Limited Extensibility Solutions Use descriptive string constants Use Enums Create A Polymorphic Hierarchy Use descriptive string constants Use Enums Create A Polymorphic Hierarchy Polymorphic Context Numeric constants representing real-world concepts lack readability and make your code harder to understand. It's not clear what each number represents. if you need to add more constants in the future or change the order, you'll have to update all occurrences of these numeric constants manually. New values can introduce errors and make maintenance more difficult. Saving attributes as integers to improve the persistence performance or space is a clear signal of Premature Optimization . integers Premature Optimization Sample Code Wrong public const FORMAT_JPG = 1;
public const FORMAT_GIF = 2;
public const FORMAT_PNG = 3; public const FORMAT_JPG = 1;
public const FORMAT_GIF = 2;
public const FORMAT_PNG = 3; Right public const string FORMAT_JPG = "JPG";
public const string FORMAT_GIF = "GIF";
public const string FORMAT_PNG = "PNG";

// OR

public enum ImageFormat
{
    JPG,
    GIF,
    PNG
} public const string FORMAT_JPG = "JPG";
public const string FORMAT_GIF = "GIF";
public const string FORMAT_PNG = "PNG";

// OR

public enum ImageFormat
{
    JPG,
    GIF,
    PNG
} Detection Semi-Automatic Semi-Automatic You can tell your linters to warn you about this usage, but they can show you some false positives. Tags Readability Readability Level Beginner Beginner AI Generation No models create this premature optimization problem when prompted to list constants. AI Detection ChatGPT and Gemini detected this as a mistake. Conclusion After this correction, your code will be cleaner readable, and self-explanatory for debugging. You can read it and It's clear what each constant represents. If you need to add more formats or change the order, you should update the enumeration definition without affecting the rest of the code. IDEs with auto-completion and error checking will give you better support to work with enums. Relations Code Smell 02 - Constants and Magic Numbers Code Smell 02 - Constants and Magic Numbers Code Smell 110 - Switches With Defaults Code Smell 110 - Switches With Defaults Code Smell 20 - Premature Optimization Code Smell 20 - Premature Optimization More Info How to Get Rid of Annoying IFs Forever How to Get Rid of Annoying IFs Forever Disclaimer Code Smells are my opinion . opinion Credits Photo by Markus Krisetya on Unsplash Markus Krisetya Unsplash Forget this world and all its troubles and if possible its multitudinous Charlatans - everything in short but the Enchantress of Numbers. Forget this world and all its troubles and if possible its multitudinous Charlatans - everything in short but the Enchantress of Numbers. Ada Lovelace Ada Lovelace Software Engineering Great Quotes Software Engineering Great Quotes This article is part of the CodeSmell Series. How to Find the Stinky Parts of your Code How to Find the Stinky Parts of your Code

The code in this story is for educational purposes. The readers are solely responsible for whatever they build with it.

Premature Memoization: How to Properly Apply It - Code Smell 250

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How to Find the Stinky Parts of Your Code: 249 - Constants as Numbers

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