Identification

One of the classic code smells is called primitive overuse.

It's deceptively simple.

Take this code, for example:

const email: string = user.email;
if(email !== null && email !== "") {
    // Do something with the email.
}

Notice that we are handling the email's raw data?

Or, consider this:

const firstname = user.firstname || "";
const lastname = user.lastname || "";
const fullName: string = firstname + " " + lastname;

Notice all that extra checking around making sure the user's names are not null? You've seen code like this, no doubt.

What's Wrong Here?

What's wrong with this code? There are a few things to think about:

• That logic is not sharable and therefore will be duplicated all over the place.
• In more complex scenarios, it's hard to see what the underlying business concept represents (which leads to code that's hard to understand).
...