第 18 章 代码应该是显而易见的

Obscurity is one of the two main causes of complexity described in Section 2.3. Obscurity occurs when important information about a system is not obvious to new developers. The solution to the obscurity problem is to write code in a way that makes it obvious; this chapter discusses some of the factors that make code more or less obvious.

If code is obvious, it means that someone can read the code quickly, without much thought, and their first guesses about the behavior or meaning of the code will be correct. If code is obvious, a reader doesn’t need to spend much time or effort to gather all the information they need to work with the code. If code is not obvious, then a reader must expend a lot of time and energy to understand it. Not only does this reduce their efficiency, but it also increases the likelihood of misunderstanding and bugs. Obvious code needs fewer comments than nonobvious code.

“Obvious” is in the mind of the reader: it’s easier to notice that someone else’s code is nonobvious than to see problems with your own code. Thus, the best way to determine the obviousness of code is through code reviews. If someone reading your code says it’s not obvious, then it’s not obvious, no matter how clear it may seem to you. By trying to understand what made the code nonobvious, you will learn how to write better code in the future.