Maxi Contieri

Posted on Jul 2, 2022 • Edited on Jul 8, 2022 • Originally published at maximilianocontieri.com

Code Smell 146 - Getter Comments

#javascript #webdev #beginners #programming

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

Remove getter comments
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

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

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