What is code smell and how to reduce it?

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In today’s digital world, when having good and reliable software plays a crucial role in the operational processes of every business, the developers bear the responsibility to produce high-quality code. However, that’s easier said than done. They may encounter various challenges during the development process that can lead to unintentional mistakes, resulting in what is known as code smells. But what is code smell? By softteco.com.

Back in the late 1990s, Kent Beck, the creator of extreme programming, emphasized the importance of design quality in software development. He played a significant role in popularizing the term “code smell” to describe certain patterns or characteristics in code that indicate potential issues or weaknesses.

In this article you will learn about:

  • Why do code smells occur?
  • How to identify code smells?
    • Common types of code smells
    • Automated analysis tools
    • Experience-based knowledge
  • Common types of code smells
    • Bloaters
    • Change preventers
    • Couplers
    • Object-orientation abusers
    • Dispensables
  • Best practices to reduce the code smell

Although code smells themselves may not directly cause the code to break, it is indeed crucial to be mindful of their presence. It can serve as warning signs that something could be wrong in the code, indicating potential issues or weaknesses. Interesting read!

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Tags learning code-refactoring how-to programming performance