Problems

Readability
Default Case

Solutions

Rewrite the code as an IF condition with an early return

Context

Nesting is always a problem with complexity.

We can fix it with polymorphism or early returns

Sample Code

Wrong


const getUnits = secs => (
 secs <= 60       ? 'seconds' :
 secs <= 3600     ? 'minutes' :
 secs <= 86400    ? 'hours'   :
 secs <= 2592000  ? 'days'    :
 secs <= 31536000 ? 'months'  :
                    'years' 
)

Right


const getUnits = secs => {
 if (secs <= 60) return 'seconds'; 
 if (secs <= 3_600) return 'minutes'; 
 if (secs <= 86_400) return 'hours';   
 if (secs <= 2_592_000) return 'days';    
 if (secs <= 31_536_000) return 'months';  
 return 'years' 
}

// More declarative

const getUnits = secs => {
 if (secs <= 60) return 'seconds'; 
 if (secs <= 60 * 60) return 'minutes'; 
 if (secs <= 24 * 60 * 60) return 'hours';   
 if (secs <= 30 * 24 * 60 * 60) return 'days';    
 if (secs <= 12 * 30 * 24 * 60 * 60) return 'months';  
 return 'years' 
}

Detection

[X] Automatic

Linters can detect this complexity using parsing trees.

Conclusion

We must deal with accidental complexity to improve code readability.

Relations

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Code Smell 78 - Callback Hell

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Code Smell 102 - Arrow Code

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Disclaimer

Code Smells are my opinion.

Credits

Photo by NIKHIL on Unsplash

One of the best things to come out of the home computer revolution could be the general and widespread understanding of how severely limited logic really is.

Frank Herbert