Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python

5 Finding Code Smells

Code that causes a program to crash is obviously wrong, but crashes aren’t the only indicator of issues in your programs. Other signs can suggest the presence of more subtle bugs or unreadable code. Just as the smell of gas can indicate a gas leak or the smell of smoke could indicate a fire, a code smell is a source code pattern that signals potential bugs. A code smell doesn’t necessarily mean a problem exists, but it does mean you should investigate your program.

This chapter lists several common code smells. It takes much less time and effort to prevent a bug than to encounter, understand, and fix a bug later. Every ...