The Three Types of Code

When each new project starts, I sort out the code I see into three types, or categories. I think these types can be applied to any code base, any language, any technology or open source project. Whether I'm writing HTML, CSS, or building React components, thinking about these different categories has helped me figure out what needs to be refactored and prioritized, and what can now be put on hold for the time being.

These categories are: boring code, salt ore code, and radioactive code.

Let me explain.

Boring code

Boring code refers to code that is completely logical when reading. No refactoring is required, it performs its functions in a way that won't make you want to jump into the river. Boring code is good code. It won't play tricks, nor will it try to impress you. You can use it without writing more code or designing tips on it. Boring code is executed exactly literally and never causes any surprises.

This function is logical, this property is clearly named, and this React component is simple. There is no loop nesting here, and no brain power is required for gymnastics.

However, boring code is nearly impossible to write, because our understanding of it is almost always incomplete when we start solving the problem. See how many factors you need to consider in setting a contrast style for a simple paragraph. To write boring code, we have to be diligent, have to be constantly refactored, and have to care about the code base, not just the salary at the end of the month.

Boring code is good because boring code is very friendly.

Salt ore code

This is that crazy and meaningless code. This is code that we can hardly read, but it is buried deep in the code base and is nearly impossible to change. but! It doesn't leak to other parts of our code, so we can mostly ignore it. It may not be pretty, and as long as we are alive, we may not want to see it anymore, but it does not actively cause any damage.

This is the type of code we can forget in most cases. If opened and tampered, this code type is dangerous, but everything is OK at the moment.

Trouble bury it deep underground.

Radioactive code

Radioactive code is a real problem at the heart of every engineering team. This is the kind of code that makes us not want to go to work. Not only is it bad, it is actively poisoning our code base and making everything worse over time. Imagine the code base is like a nuclear reactor; radioactive code is something that has broken through the container and is now leaking to various parts of our code base.

An example? For our Gusto and the design systems team, I think our form components are radioactive. Each component causes more problems because we can never use the component as it is; we have to modify it to get what we want. Every time anyone uses this code, they have to write more code on top of it, making the situation worse over time, and it encourages everyone on the team to do so.

In our design system, when we want to add class names to a div containing form elements, we must use the formFieldClass property in one component and the wrapperClass property in another component. There is a propType called isDefaultLayout, which everyone sets to false and writes a custom CSS class on top of it. In other words, radioactive code not only makes it difficult for us to understand all this meaningless code, but it also makes it increasingly difficult for us to understand other parts of the code base. Because the file we are now viewing depends on eight different things we cannot see. The result of deleting this radioactive code means changing everything else that depends on it.

In other words, radioactive code—like our form components—makes the code base untrustable.

Radioactive code is not only harmful to us and our code base, but also to our team. It can fuel bad habits, create cruelty in the Slack thread, not to mention it can create unmeasurable friction between team members. Radioactive codes will also encourage other teams in the company to do their own thing and bring new technologies into the code base, and the problem with radioactive code itself is not a technical issue. Anyone can write this type of code, regardless of language, system, or lint, as long as they don't pay enough attention to the problem. Or when they try to be too smart. Or when they try to impress others.

How do we fix radioactive codes? Well, we have to draw a circle around it and control the crazy behavior that leaks to other parts of the code base. Then we have to do something extremely heroic: we have to make it boring.

The above is the detailed content of The Three Types of Code. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!