readme.md

Code Smell 54 - Anchor Boats

Code is there. Just in case. We might need it soon.

TL;DR: Don't leave code for future use.

Problems

• Complexity

• Coupling

Solutions

1. Remove dead code.

2. Leave covered and real tested code.

Sample Code

Wrong

<?

final class DatabaseQueryOptimizer {
  
  public function selectWithCriteria($tableName, $criteria) {
    // Make some optimizations manipulating criteria
  }
  
  private function sqlParserOptimization(SQLSentence $sqlSentence)
    : SQLSentence {
    // Parse the SQL converting it to a string 
    // and then working with their nodes as strings and lots of regex
    // This was a very costly operation overcoming real SQL benefits.
    // But since you made too much work you decide to keep the code.
  }  
}

Right

<?

final class DatabaseQueryOptimizer {
  
  public function selectWithCriteria($tableName, $criteria) {
    // Make some optimizations manipulating criteria
  } 
}

Detection

Using some mutation testing variants we can remove the dead code and see if test fails.

We need to have good coverage to rely on this solution.

Tags

• YAGNI

Level

[X] Intermediate

Conclusion

Dead code is always a problem.

We can use modern development techniques like TDD to ensure all code is alive.

How to Squeeze Test Driven Development on Legacy Systems

Also Known as

• Speculative Generality

Relations

Code Smell 09 - Dead Code

Code Smell 200 - Poltergeist

More Info

• Exception not Found

• Wikipedia

• Refactoring.guru

Credits

Photo by Kris Mikael Krister on Unsplash

Thanks to @Apoorv Tyagi for pointing this out.

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It is very hard to predict, especially the future.

Niels Bohr

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Software Engineering Great Quotes

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This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.

How to Find the Stinky Parts of your Code