- Duplicated Code
- Long Method
- Large Class
- Long Parameter List
- Divergent Change
- Shotgun Surgery
- Feature Envy
- Data Clumps
- Primitive Obsession
- Case Statements
- Parallel Inheritance Hierarchies
- Lazy Class
- Speculative Generality
- Temporary Field
- Message Chains
- Middle Man
- Inappropriate Intimacy
- Alternative Classes with Different Interfaces
- Incomplete Library Class
- Data Class
- Refused Bequest
- Comments
- Metaprogramming Madness
- Disjointed API
- Repetitive Boilerplate
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Primitive Obsession
Most programming environments have two kinds of data. Record types allow you to structure data into meaningful groups. Primitive types are your building blocks. Records always carry a certain amount of overhead: They may mean tables in a database, or they may be awkward to create when you want them for only one or two things.
One of the valuable things about objects is that they blur or even break the line between primitive and larger classes. You can easily write little classes that are indistinguishable from the built-in types of the language. Ruby makes everything an object, but for the sake of this discussion, we're designating built-in types such as Fixnum and String as primitives.
People new to objects are usually reluctant to use small objects for small tasks, such as money classes that combine number and currency, and special strings such as telephone numbers and ZIP codes. You can move out of the cave into the centrally heated world of objects by using Replace Data Value with Object on individual data values. If you have conditionals that depend on a type code, use Replace Type Code with Polymorphism, Replace Type Code with Module Extension, or Replace Type Code with State/Strategy.
If you have a group of instance variables that should go together, use Extract Class. If you see these primitives in parameter lists, try a civilizing dose of Introduce Parameter Object. If you find yourself picking apart an array, use Replace Array with Object.