TL;DR: Name all your magic numbers

Problems Addressed

• Readability

• Complexity

• Code Reuse

Related Code Smells

• https://maximilianocontieri.com/code-smell-02-constants-and-magic-numbers

Steps

1. Move the constant code fragment to a constant declaration

2. Replace the values with a reference to the constant.

Sample Code

Before

double energy(double mass) {
  return mass * 300.000 ^ 2;
}

After

  // 1. Move the constant code fragment to a constant declaration
final double LIGHT_SPEED = 300.000;

double energy(double mass) {
  // 2. Replace the old code with a reference to the constant.
  return mass * LIGHT_SPEED ^ 2;
}

Type

[X] Automatic

Many IDEs support this safe refactoring

Why code is better?

Constant names add meaning to our code.

Magic numbers are difficult to understand and change.

Code must be as declarative as possible.

Tags

• Readability

Related Refactorings

Credits

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

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This article is part of the Refactoring Series.