It smells because there are likely many instances where it could be edited or improved. Most of these smells are just hints of something that might be wrong. Therefore, they are not required to be fixed per se… (You should look into it, though.) Previous Code Smells You can find all the previous code smells (Part i - XXXVII) . here Let's continue... Code Smell 186 - Hardcoded Business Conditions You are FTX and your code allows special cases TL;DR: Don't add hard business rules to your code. Problems Open / Closed Principle Violation Hardcoding Testability Solutions Reify the condition. Create configuration options and set the exception on the configuration behavior. Don't use . Settings/Configs Context According to , in a recent FTX scandal, there was a hardcoded condition to skip risk controls to its own portfolio. Reuters The code was explicit and developers were aware of that rule. Sample Code Wrong if (currentExposure > 0.15 && customer != "Alameda") {
  // Be extra careful not to liquidate
  liquidatePosition();
} Right customer.liquidatePositionIfNecessary(0.15);
  
  // This follows the Tell, Don't ask principle Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can search for primary hardcoded conditions (related to primitive types). We might have more false positives than actual problems. Tags Hardcoding Conclusion If you make code reviews, pay special attention to this kind of hard coding. Relations Code Smell 133 - Hardcoded IF Conditions Code Smell 29 - Settings / Configs More Info Reuters on FTX Crash Credits Photo by on Alexander Mils Unsplash Computer science inverts the normal. In normal science, you're given a world, and your job is to find out the rules. In computer science, you give the computer the rules, and it creates the world. Alan Kay Software Engineering Great Quotes Code Smell 187 - If/Else Backwards The first thing we read after the if the condition is the IF TL;DR: You have the important else condition on the else. Problems Readability Solutions Swap the conditions. Context It is not as straightforward as it appears to write IF clauses in an elegant manner. There are lots of variants and choices. We need to pay special attention to readability. Sample Code Wrong fun addToCart(item: Any) {
    if (!cartExists()) {
        // Condition is negated
        this.createCart();
        this.cart.addItem(Item);
        // Repeated Code
    }
    else {
        // Normal case is on the else clause
        this.cart.addItem(Item);
    }
} Right fun addToCart(item: Any) {
    if (cartExists()) {
        this.cart.addItem(Item);
    }
    else {      
        this.createCart();
        this.cart.addItem(Item);
    }
}   

fun addToCartShorter(item: Any) {
    if (!cartExists()) {
        this.createCart();
    }
    this.cart.addItem(Item);    
} Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can find negated expressions on IF conditions and check for this anti-pattern. Tags IFs Conclusion We need to read code like prose. Humans read the standard case first and the exceptional one after it. Relations Code Smell 51 - Double Negatives Code Smell 156 - Implicit Else More Info Know the Code Credits Photo by on Karol Kasanicky Unsplash Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity. D. Gelernter Code Smell 188 - Redundant Parameter Names Use contextual and local names TL;DR: Don't repeat your parameters' names. Names should be contextual. Problems Duplication Readability Solutions Remove the repeated part from the name Context When using names, we often miss that words are contextual and need to be read as a whole sentence. Sample Code Wrong class Employee
  def initialize(@employee_first_name : String, @employee_last_name : String, @employee_birthdate : Time)
  end
end Right class Employee
  def initialize(@first_name : String, @last_name : String, @birthdate : Time)
  end
end Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can check our parameter names and try to find duplication. Tags Naming Conclusion Use short and contextual names for your parameters. Relations Code Smell 174 - Class Name in Attributes Code Smell 87 - Inconsistent Parameters Sorting Credits Photo by on Wolfgang Hasselmann Unsplash As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications. David Parnas Code Smell 189 - Not Sanitized Input Bad actors are there. We need to be very careful with their input. TL;DR: Sanitize everything that comes from outside your control. Problems Security Solutions Use sanitization and input filtering techniques. Context Whenever you get input from an external resource, a security principle requests you to validate and check for potentially harmful inputs. is a notable example of a threat. SQL Injection We can also add and invariants to our inputs. assertions Even better, we can work with . Domain Restricted Objects Sample Code Wrong user_input = "abc123!@#"
# This content might not be very safe if we expect just alphanumeric characters Right import re

def sanitize(string):
  # Remove any characters that are not letters or numbers
  sanitized_string = re.sub(r'[^a-zA-Z0-9]', '', string)
  
  return sanitized_string

user_input = "abc123!@#"
print(sanitize(user_input))  # Output: "abc123" Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can statically check all the inputs and also we can also use penetration testing tools. Tags Security Conclusion We need to be very cautious with the inputs beyond our control. Relations Code Smell 121 - String Validations Code Smell 178 - Subsets Violation Code Smell 15 - Missed Preconditions More Info Wikipedia Credits Photo by on Jess Zoerb Unsplash Companies should make their own enterprise systems as often as network security companies should manufacture their own aspirin. Phil Simon Code Smell 190 - Unnecessary Properties Stop thinking of data as attributes. They are only needed to back your behavior TL;DR: Don't focus on accidental properties. You won't need many of them. Problems Anemic Models Properties bloating YAGNI violation Solutions Create attributes only to support your methods (behavior). Context Whenever they want to model a person or an employee, junior programmers or students add an attribute or without thinking if they are really going to need them. 'id' 'name' We need to add attributes 'on-demand' when there's enough evidence. Objects are not 'data holders'. Sample Code Wrong class PersonInQueue
  attr_accessor :name, :job

  def initialize(name, job)
    @name = name
    @job = job
  end
end Right class PersonInQueue

  def moveForwardOnePosition
    # implement protocol
  end
end Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can detect unused attributes. But in many cases, we need an excellent designer to validate the actual need. Tags Anemic Conclusion Start designing your objects from the protocol. Add attributes only when needed. Relations Code Smell 144 - Fungible Objects Code Smell 01 - Anemic Models Code Smell 40 - DTOs Code Smell 109 - Automatic Properties Credits Photo by on Melanie Pongratz Unsplash Object thinking focuses our attention on the problem space rather than the solution space. David West 5 more code smells are coming soon…

This story contains new, firsthand information uncovered by the writer.

Winner of Noonies 2020 for the award Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - REFACTORING.

How to Find the Stinky Parts of Your Code [Part XXXVIII]

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

From Helpful to Harmful: How AI Recommendations Destroyed My OS

Clean Code in Go (Part 4): Package Architecture, Dependency Flow, and Scalability

Building Scalable SaaS: My Real-World Journey Using spatie/laravel-multitenancy for Multi-Tenant Arc

The "Comment" Fallacy: Why Self-Documenting Code is Still the Goal

Flip the Script: Write the Tests, Let AI Write the Implementation

Building a Filesystem From Scratch: Inside the Reactor That Powers BarkFS

From Helpful to Harmful: How AI Recommendations Destroyed My OS

Clean Code in Go (Part 4): Package Architecture, Dependency Flow, and Scalability

Building Scalable SaaS: My Real-World Journey Using spatie/laravel-multitenancy for Multi-Tenant Arc

The "Comment" Fallacy: Why Self-Documenting Code is Still the Goal

Flip the Script: Write the Tests, Let AI Write the Implementation

Building a Filesystem From Scratch: Inside the Reactor That Powers BarkFS

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Minty

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps