Code Smell 06 - Too Clever Programmer

Code difficult to read, tricky with names without semantic. Sometimes using language's accidental complexity.

TL;DR: Don't pretend you are too smart. Clean code asks for readability and simplicity.

Problems

• Readability

• Maintainability

• Code Quality

• Premature Optimization

Solutions

• Refactor the code

• Use better names

Examples

• Optimized loops

Exceptions

• Optimized code for low level operations.

Sample Code

Wrong

function primeFactors(n){
  var f = [],  i = 0, d = 2;  

  for (i = 0; n >= 2; ) {
     if(n % d == 0){
       f[i++]=(d); 
       n /= d;
    }
    else{
      d++;
    }     
  }
  return f;
}

Right

function primeFactors(numberToFactor){
  var factors = [], 
      divisor = 2,
      remainder = numberToFactor;

  while(remainder>=2){
    if(remainder % divisor === 0){
       factors.push(divisor); 
       remainder = remainder/ divisor;
    }
    else{
      divisor++;
    }     
  }
  return factors;
}

Detection

Automatic detection is possible in some languages.
Watch some warnings related to complexity, bad names, post increment variables, etc.

Relations

Code Smell 02 - Constants and Magic Numbers

Maxi Contieri ・ Oct 21 '20

#beginners #codenewbie #100daysofcode #codequality

Code Smell 20 - Premature Optimization

Maxi Contieri ・ Nov 8 '20

#oop #developing #coding #codesmell

Also Known as

• Obfuscator

Conclusion

Too clever developers write cryptic code to brag. Smart developers write clean code.
Clear beats clever.

Tags

• Declarative

More Info

Boolean Flags

Credits

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

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Programming can be fun, so can cryptography; however they should not be combined.

Kreitzberg & Shneiderman

Software Engineering Great Quotes

Maxi Contieri ・ Dec 28 '20

#codenewbie #programming #quotes #software

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This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.

How to Find the Stinky parts of your Code

Maxi Contieri ・ May 21 '21

#codenewbie #tutorial #codequality #beginners

Last update: 2021/06/08

Comments

[Teodor Kulej]

You are of course aware that math background promotes using single character names for variables? Also, there are valid (due to historical reasons) short names, like i for iterator in a for loop?

[Andrej Rypo]

The code in the "wrong" example is not being clever at all. It's just obfuscated. That kind is typically written by juniors trying to look smart.
I'd swap the "A.K.A." section with the headline.

[Tayyab Talha]

There is no difference between wrong and right code.

[Ben Coleman]

Refresh the page. This appears to be a bug in (at least) the Android DEV app.

[Tayyab Talha]

Yep you are right

[Maxi Contieri]

From a machine point of view it isn't. The semantic parsing trees are equivalent

[Mohcin Bounouara]

In the point.