Code smells are indicators of potential problems in code that could lead to potential issues later if not today. Identifying and addressing code smells is an important part of maintaining a healthy and maintainable codebase. By addressing these issues, developers can make the code easier to read, understand, and maintain, as well as improve its scalability and performance. Here are some examples of code smells:
Inconsistent Naming
Inconsistent naming of variables, methods, or classes. This makes it difficult to read and understand the code.
Complex Conditional Expressions
Large if/else can indicate a need for refactoring. This can make the code harder to understand and maintain, and can also be a sign of inflexible code.
Large Switch Statements
Large switch statements that can indicate a need for polymorphism or other design patterns. This can make the code harder to understand and maintain, and can also be a sign of inflexible code.
Magic Numbers
Using numeric literals in code without explanation or meaning. This can make the code harder to understand and maintain, as well as be a source of errors.
Long Method
A method that is too long and contains too much code. This makes it difficult to read, understand, and maintain.
Too Many Parameters
A method that takes too many parameters. This makes it difficult to read and understand the method, and can lead to errors if the parameters are not passed in the correct order.
Feature Envy
A method that uses fields or methods of another class more than its own. This can indicate that the method should actually belong to the other class.
Data Clumps
Multiple parameters that always appear together in method signatures. This can indicate a need for a new class to group related data together.
Temporary Field
A field that is only used during part of an object’s lifetime. This can make the code harder to understand and maintain, as well as negatively impact performance.
Large Class
A class that contains too many fields and methods. This makes it difficult to understand and maintain.
God Class
A class that does too much and has too many responsibilities. This can make it difficult to understand and maintain, and can lead to problems with scalability.
Lazy Class
A class that doesn’t do enough to justify its existence. This can make the code harder to understand and maintain, as well as negatively impact performance.
Primitive Obsession
Overuse of primitive types instead of creating custom classes for specific use cases. This can make the code harder to understand and maintain, as well as be a source of errors.
Duplicate Code
Code that is repeated in multiple places in the codebase. This makes it difficult to maintain, as changes to the code must be made in multiple places.
Excessive Coupling
When classes or components are too tightly coupled to each other. This can make the code harder to modify and maintain, and can also negatively impact performance.
Shotgun Surgery
When a single change requires modifications to multiple classes. This can make the code harder to maintain and can also be a sign of poor modularization.
Inappropriate Intimacy
A class that is too tightly coupled with another class. This can make it difficult to modify one class without impacting the other, and can also indicate a need for better encapsulation.
Comments
Too many or too few comments can be a code smell. Too many comments can indicate that the code is overly complex and difficult to understand, while too few comments can make it hard to understand the code’s purpose and functionality.
Parallel Inheritance Hierarchies
When two or more inheritance hierarchies are closely related, but not properly designed to work together. This can make the code harder to maintain and can also negatively impact performance.
Dead Code
Dead code is code that is no longer used or needed.
Speculative Generality
Sometimes code is created “just in case” to support anticipated future features that never get implemented. As a result, code becomes hard to understand and support.
Incomplete Library Class
Using a library class in a way that requires additional methods or functionality. This can make the code harder to maintain and can also negatively impact performance.
Message Chains
Message Chains is a code smell that occurs when a client requests an object from another object, which requests an object from another object, and so on, forming a chain of method calls between objects. This can result in long and complex chains of method calls that make the code harder to read and maintain.
Middle Man
The Middle Man code smell occurs when a class is acting as an unnecessary intermediary between other classes or objects. This can happen when a class is delegating all or most of its work to another class, rather than performing the work itself.
Refused Bequest
Refused Bequest is a code smell that occurs when a subclass inherits methods and properties from a superclass that it does not need or use.
Alternative Classes with Different Interfaces
It is a code smell that occurs when two or more classes have similar functionality, but different interfaces.
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