Code Smell 148 - ToDos

We buy debt for our future selves. It is payback time

TL;DR: Don't leave TODOs in your code. Fix them!

Problems

• Technical Debt

• Readability

• Lack of Confidence

Solutions

1. Fix your TODOs

Context

We encounter TODOs in our code. We count them.

We seldom address it.

We started owing the technical debt.

Then we pay the debt + the interest.

A few months after, we pay more interest than the original debt.

Sample Code

Wrong

public class Door
{ 
    private Boolean isOpened;

    public Door(boolean isOpened)
    {       
        this.isOpened = isOpened;
    }      

    public void openDoor()
    {
        this.isOpened = true;
    }

    public void closeDoor()
    {
        // TODO: Implement close door and cover it
    }      

}

Right

public class Door
{

    private Boolean isOpened;

    public Door(boolean isOpened)
    {       
        this.isOpened = isOpened;
    }      

    public void openDoor()
    {
        this.isOpened = true;
    }

    public void closeDoor()
    {
        this.isOpened = false;
    }      

}

Detection

[X] Automatic

We can count TODOs.

Tags

• Technical Debt

Conclusion

We can count TODOs.

Most linters do it.

We need the policy to reduce it.

If we are using TDD, we write the missing code right away.

In this context, TODOs are only valid when doing Depth First development to remember open paths to visit.

More Info

• Should you put ToDos?

• Broken Windows Theory

Credits

Photo by Eden Constantino on Unsplash

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After you finish the first 90% of a project, you have to finish the other 90%.

Michael Abrash

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This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.

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