Code Smells

Get familiar with code smells, how to recognize them, and how to get rid of them.

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Code smells

Code smells act as alarm bells in our code that can lead to inefficiencies or failures in the worst-case scenario. Usually, the root cause is a failure to follow programming best practices while coding the program. Every programming language establishes its coding rules and practices, but if we don’t follow them, we’ll likely find code smells. Examples of code smells are:

  • Duplicated code
  • Long methods
  • Long parameter list
  • Unnecessary variables

Refactoring

To get rid of code smells, we use refactoring. This allows us to organize and refactor the new code to make it cleaner, more efficient, and more concise.

Note: It’s essential to have tests that certify our solution before starting the refactoring process. In this way, we can be confident in changing the current code without fear of regressions.

Let’s look at an example of code smells.

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