Be lazy and don’t keep context in your head

Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:39:07 +0000

Sometimes, code we read makes us to remember context. Consider the following code (it sends an invite email to a user):

	def process_invitation(invitation)
	if user = User.find_by(email: invitation['email'])
	unless user.belongs_to_team?(@team.id)
	membership = add_membership(user, invitation['role'])
	send_mail(membership.id, user: false)
	end
	return
	end

	user = User.new(user_data(invitation['email']))

	unless user.save
	Rails.logger.info \
	'Notify inviter that the user could not be invited for a reason'
	return
	end

	user.add_to_default_team unless @team.hide_default_team?
	membership = add_membership(user, invitation['role'])
	user.switch_team @team.id
	user.save!
	send_mail(membership.id, user: true)
	end

view raw be lazy step1.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Lines 2-8 (see above ↑) deal with the case of existing user, and the rest deal with the case of new user.

When reading lines 3-5 you have to remember that you're dealing with an existing user, same with lines 12-22, only there you deal with a new user. After all, both existing user and new user cases use same variable name: user.

But there's a better way than keeping it in your head. Keeping it in the code:

	def process_invitation(invitation)
	if existing_user = User.find_by(email: invitation['email'])
	unless existing_user.belongs_to_team?(@team.id)
	membership = add_membership(existing_user, invitation['role'])
	send_mail(membership.id, new_user: false)
	end
	return
	end

	new_user = User.new(user_data(invitation['email']))

	unless new_user.save
	Rails.logger.info \
	'Notify inviter that the user could not be invited for a reason'
	return
	end

	new_user.add_to_default_team unless @team.hide_default_team?
	membership = add_membership(new_user, invitation['role'])
	new_user.switch_team @team.id
	new_user.save!
	send_mail(membership.id, new_user: true)
	end

view raw be lazy step2.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Reading lines 3-5 (see above ↑), you clearly see that you're dealing with an existing user. And same for the lines dealing with a new user.

Happy hacking!

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Be lazy and don’t keep context in your head