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Code Smell 34 - Too Many Attributes

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Part of seriesCode Smells
Code Smell 34 - Too Many Attributes

A class defines objects with lots of attributes.

Problems

  • Low Cohesion

  • Coupling

  • Maintainability

  • Readability

Solutions

  1. Find methods related to attributes.
  2. Cluster these methods.
  3. Break the object related to those clusters.
  4. Find real objects related to this new objects and replace existing references.

Examples

  • DTOs

  • Denormalized table rows

Sample Code

Wrong

Detection

Most linters warn when you declare too many attributes. Setting a good warning threshold should be easy.

Tags

  • Primitive

Conclusion

Bloated objects know too much and are very difficult to change due to cohesion.

Developers change these objects a lot, so they bring merge conflicts and are a common problems source.

Relations

Credits

Photo by Andy Li on Unsplash


So much complexity in software comes from trying to make one thing do two things.

Ryan Singer


This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.

About the author

  • I’m a senior software engineer loving clean code, and declarative designs. S.O.L.I.D. and agile methodologies fan.

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Code Smells

Part 1 of 50

In this series, we will see several symptoms and situations that make us doubt the quality of our developments. We will present possible solutions. Most are just clues. They are no hard rules.