Code Smell 74 - Empty Lines

Breaking the code to favor readability asks for refactoring.

1 June, 2023

Contributors

Maxi Contieri

@mcsee

Breaking the code to favor readability asks for refactoring.

TL;DR Don't add empty lines to your methods. Extract them!

Problems

Readability
Kiss
Low Reuse

Solutions

Extract Method
Refactor
Remove unneeded lines.

Sample Code

Wrong

<?

function translateFile() {
    $this->buildFilename();
    $this->readFile();
    $this->assertFileContentsAreOk();
    // A lot of lines more

    // Empty space to pause definition
    $this->translateHiperLinks();
    $this->translateMetadata();
    $this->translatePlainText();

    // Yet Another empty space
    $this->generateStats();
    $this->saveFileContents();
    // A lot of more lines
}

Right

<?

function translateFile() {
    $this->readFileToMemory();
    $this->translateContents();
    $this->generateStatsAndSaveFileContents();  
}

Detection

This is a policy smell. Every linter can detect blank lines and warn us.

Conclusion

Empty lines are harmless, but show us an opportunity to break the code into small steps.

If you break your code with comments, it is also a code smell asking for a refactor.

Relations

Code Smell 03 - Functions Are Too Long

Code Smell 75 - Comments Inside a Method

Credits

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

It’s OK to figure out murder mysteries, but you shouldn’t need to figure out code. You should be able to read it.

Steve McConnell

Software Engineering Great Quotes

This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.

How to Find the Stinky Parts of your Code