Code Smell 146 - Getter Comments

Comments are a code Smell. Getters are another code smell. Guess what?

TL;DR: Don't use getters. Don't comment getters

Problems

• Comment Abusers

• Readability

• Getters

Solutions

1. Remove getter comments

2. Remove getters

Context

A few decades ago, we used to comment on every method. Even trivial ones

Comment should describe only a critical design decision.

Sample Code

Wrong

pragma solidity >=0.5.0 <0.9.0;

contract Property{
    int private price;   

    function getPrice() public view returns(int){           
           /* returns the Price  */
        return price;
    }
}

Right

pragma solidity >=0.5.0 <0.9.0;

contract Property{
    int public _price;   

    function price() public view returns(int){        
        return _price;
    }
}

Detection

[X] Semi-Automatic

We can detect if a method is a getter and has a comment.

Exceptions

The function needs a comment, that is accidentally a getter and the comment is related to a design decision

Tags

• Comments

Conclusion

Don't comment getters.

They add no real value and bloat your code.

Relations

Code Smell 05 - Comment Abusers

Maxi Contieri ・ Oct 24 '20

#codenewbie #tutorial #beginners

Code Smell 68 - Getters

Maxi Contieri ・ Apr 29 '21

#codenewbie #tutorial #oop #programming

Code Smell 01 - Anemic Models

Maxi Contieri ・ Oct 20 '20

#codenewbie #oop #beginners #computerscience

Credits

Photo by Reimond de Zuñiga on Unsplash

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Code should be remarkably expressive to avoid most of the comments. There'll be a few exceptions, but we should see comments as a 'failure of expression' until proven wrong.

Robert Martin

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

Comments

[Julien Dephix]

Any reason why you changed price to _price in your "Right" code version?

Some people like to prefix private variables with an underscore but yours is public. 🤔

[Maxi Contieri]

My code is generated by Copilot.
It changed it.
I am fine with both conventions

[Julien Dephix]

I see. I would have marked it as private in the “wrong” version to begin with. Otherwise having a getter on a public property is unnecessary.

[Maxi Contieri]

you are right, I'll change it to private

[Julien Dephix]

Change it in the "Right" version and it's all good!