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Oddball Solution

Also known as: Inconsistent Solution

Bloaters Duplication Code Smell Between Class

Same problem, two solutions, different files. One uses an adapter, the other rolls its own socket logic, and you can't tell which approach is the correct one. Or if either is.

2 min read 1 source

Overview

If a similar problem is solved differently in different parts of the project, it is an Oddball Solution. This code smell could also have been classified under Duplicated Code, although it is not exactly a one-to-one copy-paste - it is more subtle [1].

Causation

This smell often occurs when there is some recognized method of calling a set of classes whose interfaces are not uniform.

Problems

🧩
Increased Complexity

There should be one way to deal with the problem throughout the project. There is no reason to keep two ways of dealing with one problem - just use the better one.

📋
Duplication

Example 

1class Instrument:
2    ...
3
4class USB2(Instrument):
5    def __init__(self, ip, port):
6        connection = socket.new_connection(f"{ip}:{port}")
7        ...
8
9    def ask(self, command):
10        ...
11        self.connection.query(command)
12
13
14class USB3(Instrument):
15    def __init__(self, address):
16        connection = socket.new_connection(address)
17        ...
18
19    def read(self, command):
20        ...
21        self.connection.query(command)
PYTHON

Refactoring

  • Unify Interfaces with Adapter

Sources

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