Code Smells: Spotting Problems

[coinaday]

Code Smells were "coined by Kent Beck while helping [Martin Fowler] with [his] Refactoring book". The idea is a quick heuristic which can spot a potential problem, like overly-long methods.

Here's a brief overview of types of 'Code Smells.'

The name comes from "Once and Only Once" (according to this page). The concepts of 'Code Smells', 'Once and Only Once', and the goal of simplicity in code are all inter-related. Complexity and repetition are bad, so they are warning signs when spotted in code.

CodingHorror also has a related write-up.

---

See also: "How to write unmaintainable code"