The YAGNI principle (You Aren’t Gonna Need It) is a programming principle that suggests not to implement features until they are actually needed, in order to avoid unnecessary complexity and to focus on solving actual problems.
Here’s an example of YAGNI in practice. Let’s say you are building a program that needs to process some data from a text file. You might be tempted to write a generic file reader that can handle any kind of file, even though your program only needs to process text files.
Here’s an example of what that code might look like:
public class FileReader {
private File file;
public FileReader(File file) {
this.file = file;
}
public String read() {
// Read the file and return its contents
}
}This code is designed to read any kind of file, but it introduces unnecessary complexity. If your program only needs to read text files, you can simplify the code by directly reading the text file instead of creating a generic file reader.
Here’s an example of the simplified code:
public class TextFileReader {
private File file;
public TextFileReader(File file) {
this.file = file;
}
public String read() {
// Read the text file and return its contents
}
}This code only reads text files, but it is simpler and easier to understand. It also avoids unnecessary complexity and makes it easier to modify the code in the future if the requirements change.
By following the YAGNI principle, you can avoid adding unnecessary features or complexity to your code, and instead focus on solving actual problems. This can lead to more maintainable, flexible, and efficient code.