Kotlin Code Smell 3 - String Abusers

TL;DR: Use real abstractions and real objects instead of string accidental manipulation.

Problems

• Complexity

• Readability

• Maintainability

• Lack of Abstractions

Solutions

• Work with objects instead of strings.

• Replace strings with data structures dealing with object relations.

• Find Bijection problems between real objects and the strings.

Examples

• Serializers

• Parsers

Sample Code

Wrong

val schoolDescription = "College of Springfield" // location = "Springfield" val location = """[^]*\$""".toRegex() .find(schoolDescription)?.value // school = "College" val school = """^[\w]+""".toRegex() .find(schoolDescription)?.value 

Right

class School( private val name: String, private val location: Location ) { fun description() = "$name of ${location.name}" } class Location( val name: String ) 

Conclusion

Don't abuse strings. Favor real objects. Find absent protocol to distinguish them from strings.

Credits

• Code Smell 04 - String Abusers by Maxi Contieri