Easier(?) managed code with Object Calisthenics

Stephen Cena

Now that I'm writing more code, I'm always looking to improve how I work. While researching something, I came across a book "The ThoughtWorks Anthology". In it, Jeff Bay wrote an essay on (what he calls) "Object Calisthenics". In it, he lists 9 rules for writing code:

1. Only one level of indentation per method.
2. Don't use the "else" keyword.
3. Wrap all primitives and strings.
4. First class collections.
5. One dot per line.
6. Don't abbreviate.
7. Keep all entities small.
8. No classes with more than two instance variables
9. No getters/setters/properties

Here is a link to a PDF presentation of these points (full essay is in the book).

It's interesting to read, as while it does create a LOT more code, it does seem to make it easier to follow. Does anyone use this technique, or have any points of note about the 9 rules? I'm going to try some exercises and see how I do following the 9 rules & see what comes of it.

unknown

I'll be blunt. There are no absolutes. There are some good things in what is said and certainly in what he's trying to accomplish, but I'll stick to tried-and-true methodologies like SOLID.

A couple of random notes since I don't have time for a thorough review:

• Seriously, wrap all primitives/strings in objects? Sure, lets litter the heap and increase garbage collection probably exponentially because rule #3 says so. #4 isn't as bad, but it's still silly.
• I don't see how one dot per line supports LoD universally, for sure in edge cases, but I'd argue you'd have a bigger problem with nested parameters which the rules don't address. You cannot use LINQ method syntax with his rule #5. No thanks.
• I hear the argument "properties bad" come up all the time. It's nonsense. Any code construct can be abused.

Some of his other stuff, for example rules 1 and 2, I think can be better addressed by saying, "Consider your design if you have..."