You show an error and provide no useful information
TL;DR: Help yourself and others with correction information
Problems
Debugging and maintenance challenge.
Fail Fast Principle violation
Debugging complex situations.
Solutions
Add all the relevant information to solve the solution
Context
When you are reporting an error, either via an information text in the UI, by processing an API request, or by creating a test assertion, you need to provide an exit (a possible solution).
This is very relevant when dealing with complex scenarios, large objects, or arrays with minimal mistakes.
Sample Code
Wrong
VALID_COLUMNS = [‘name’, ‘gender’, ’email’]
def process_API_information(data):
invalid_columns = []
for column in data.keys():
if column not in VALID_COLUMNS:
invalid_columns.append(column)
assert not invalid_columns, “Invalid columns detected.”
# No details were provided about which columns are invalid
data = {‘name’: ‘John’, ‘gender’: ‘Pangender’,
‘age’: 47, ’email’: ‘john@example.com’}
process_API_information(data)
Right
VALID_COLUMNS = [‘name’, ‘gender’, ’email’]
def process_API_information(data):
invalid_columns = [
column for column in data.keys() if column not in VALID_COLUMNS
]
if invalid_columns:
raise ValueError(
f”Invalid columns detected: {‘, ‘.join(invalid_columns)}”
) # Shows WHICH columns are invalid
data = {‘name’: ‘John’, ‘gender’: ‘Pangender’,
‘age’: 47, ’email’: ‘john@example.com’}
process_API_information(data)
Detection
[x] Semi-Automatic
This is a semantic smell. You can warn the developers on error texts that do not include variables.
Tags
Errors
Level
[x] Beginner
AI Assistants
AI assistants usually miss this kind of help and provide hardcoded error messages.
Conclusion
You need to always think about how to help your end users.
It might be yourself.
Relations
Code Smell 97 – Error Messages Without Empathy
Disclaimer
Code Smells are my opinion.
Credits
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Information shared by an object might or might not be part of the structure of that object. That is, the object might compute the information, or it might delegate the request for information to another object.
Rebecca Wirfs Brooks
Software Engineering Great Quotes
This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.