Code Smell 54 - Anchor Boats
The code is there. Just in case. We might need it soon.
5 March, 2023
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The code is there. Just in case. We might need it soon.
TL;DR: Don't leave code for future use.
Problems
- Complexity
- Coupling
Solutions
- Remove dead code.
- Leave covered and real tested code.
Sample Code
Wrong
<?
final class DatabaseQueryOptimizer {
public function selectWithCriteria($tableName, $criteria) {
/ /Make some optimizations manipulating criteria
}
private function sqlParserOptimization(SQLSentence $sqlSentence): SQLSentence {
// Parse the SQL converting it to a string and then working with their nodes as strings and lots of regex
// This was a very costly operation overcoming real SQL benefits.
// But since we made too much work we decide to keep the code.
}
}
Right
<?
final class DatabaseQueryOptimizer {
public function selectWithCriteria($tableName, $criteria) {
// Make some optimizations manipulating criteria
}
}
Detection
Using some mutation testing variants we can remove the dead code and see if the test fails.
We need to have good coverage to rely on this solution.
Tags
- YAGNI
Conclusion
Dead code is always a problem.
We can use modern development techniques like TDD to ensure all code is alive.
How to Squeeze Test-Driven Development on Legacy Systems
Also Known as
- Speculative Generality
Relations
More Info
Credits
Photo by Kris Mikael Krister on Unsplash
Thanks to @Apoorv Tyagi for pointing this out.
It is very hard to predict, especially the future.
Niels Bohr
Software Engineering Great Quotes
This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.