19 Real‑World Bad Code Snippets Every Developer Should Avoid
This article curates 19 genuinely terrible code fragments collected from various developers, illustrating common pitfalls such as magic numbers, poorly named variables, misuse of booleans, and overly complex switch statements, and encourages readers to reflect on and learn from these mistakes.
Introduction
The author, a self‑described architect who writes code and poetry, admits that everyone writes code they’re not proud of and shares a collection of the worst examples he could find, warning readers to view them with a tolerant eye.
Reinventing the Wheel Wrongly
A snippet demonstrates a faulty boolean comparison that fails to return the expected result, prompting the suggestion to implement a custom solution.
Magic Numbers
An illustration warns about the dangers of hard‑coded numeric values and asks what would happen if one of them were changed.
At Least It’s Split Into Lines
A code screenshot, likely from a school project, is presented with a humorous comment about the teacher.
Devil Is Also a Function
The article shows various implementations of an isEven function, highlighting different styles and potential over‑engineering.
Want a Function to Get String Length?
A developer quickly implements a function to return a string’s length, illustrating impulsive coding.
Awakening the Inner Child
The author shows a bizarre example where emoji characters are used as variable names, questioning whether such practice is acceptable.
Who Is Reading Commit Messages?
A scenario describes a colleague repeatedly using the same commit message, hinting at possible automation or laziness.
If Any of These Changes Happen
The author muses about unpredictable future changes and advises caution.
Reasons to Buy an Ultra‑Wide Monitor
A tongue‑in‑cheek comment about long variable names and readability, questioning how long is too long.
Genius Move
A brief note that a particular comment is self‑explanatory.
Typography Is Best
The author discusses type safety and how to avoid type errors, presenting a quirky solution.
If It Works, It Works
Emphasizes ensuring that the sum of parameters always equals seven for a function to succeed.
Ensuring It’s a Real Bool
Reflects on how pessimistic a programmer can be while staying close to correctness.
Test‑Driven Best Development
Advocates unit testing but wonders what happens if tests generate random numbers.
Do You Dare to Scale?
Comments on writing complex switch statements that can become unwieldy with many cases.
Try the Switch Statement
Questions whether the switch should be expanded in the future, ending with a hopeful note.
Math Is Hard
Admits that using external help (or packages) isn’t shameful and mentions a popular tool with over 150,000 weekly downloads.
When Brilliant Ideas Flow
Encourages readers not to let such code pass code review, despite feeling rebellious.
When You’re a Coder with a Calligraphy Passion
Experiments with different fonts and jokes about “pirated software” code.
Final Thoughts
The author hopes readers enjoy the examples, invites comments on favorite snippets, and reflects on his own early‑career code regrets.
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