Knowledge · Anti-Patterns

Smell Mysterious Name

Code smell indicating names that fail to communicate intent clearly

Impact

When you cannot think of a good name for something, it is often a sign of a deeper design malaise. Puzzling over a tricky name often leads to insights about design. One of the most important parts of clear code is good names. Names should communicate what they do without needing to dig into implementation.

Symptoms

When you cannot think of a good name for something, it is often a sign of a deeper design malaise. Puzzling over a tricky name often leads to insights about design. One of the most important parts of clear code is good names. Names should communicate what they do without needing to dig into implementation.

Source

Martin Fowler — Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, 2nd