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Cover image for Code Smell 57 - Versioned Functions
Maxi Contieri
Maxi Contieri

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at maximilianocontieri.com

Code Smell 57 - Versioned Functions

#codenewbie #codesmell #webdev #tutorial

sort, sortOld, sort20210117, workingSort, It is great to have them all. Just in case

Problems

  • Readability

  • Maintainability

Solutions

  1. Keep just one working version of your artefact (class, method, attribute).

  2. Leave time control to your version control system.

Sample Code

Wrong 

findMatch()
findMatch_new()
findMatch_newer()
findMatch_newest()
findMatch_version2()
findMatch_old()
findMatch_working()
findMatch_for_real()
findMatch_20200229()
findMatch_thisoneisnewer()
findMatch_themostnewestone()
findMatch_thisisit()
findMatch_thisisit_for_real()
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Right 

findMatch()
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Detection

We can add automatic rules to find versioned methods with patterns.

Like many other patters we might create an internal policy and communicate.

Tags

  • Versioning

Conclusion

Time and code evolution management is always present in software development. Luckily nowadays we have mature tools to address this problem.

Relations

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Credits

Photo by K8 on Unsplash

Original idea

That's why I write, because life never works except in retrospect. You can't control life, at least you can control your version.

Chuck Palahniuk

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This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.

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Top comments (3)

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yoursunny profile image
Junxiao Shi •

What if:

  • It's a C function, where optional arguments are not supported.
  • A new version of the function adds an extra argument.
  • Old version cannot be deleted because it would break dependants.

The only way is to keep both old and new functions.

Real example: pipe and pipe2 in Linux syscall

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elmuerte profile image
Michiel Hendriks •

That doesn't change the fact that it is a code smell. Sometimes language or runtime restrictions make code smells unavoidable.

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mcsee profile image
Maxi Contieri •

Many bad languages introduce unavoidable code smells

We should be aware of them