This content originally appeared on DEV Community 👩💻👨💻 and was authored by Maxi Contieri
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
- Readabiity
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
[X] Semi-Automatic
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
More Info
Disclaimer
Code Smells are just my opinion.
Credits
Photo by Karol Kasanicky on 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
This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community 👩💻👨💻 and was authored by Maxi Contieri
Maxi Contieri | Sciencx (2022-12-17T21:57:08+00:00) ㄥ8Ɩ llǝɯS ǝpoƆ – spɹɐʍʞɔɐq ǝslƎ/ℲI. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/12/17/%e3%84%a58%c9%a9-ll%c7%9d%c9%afs-%c7%9dpo%c9%94-sp%c9%b9%c9%90%ca%8d%ca%9e%c9%94%c9%90q-%c7%9dsl%c7%9d-%e2%85%8ei/
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