Code Smell Diagnosis
Overview
Diagnose structural problems from concrete evidence. A smell is a prompt to investigate, not proof that code must change.
Procedure
- Establish the requested scope and project facts.
- Collect concrete structural and change-coupling evidence.
- Match evidence against the smell catalog.
- Apply false-positive checks.
- Report confidence, impact, and candidates from the mapping guide.
- If the request is diagnosis-only, do not modify business code.
Finding Contract
Every finding states location, evidence, smell ID/name, impact, confidence (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW), candidate refactorings, priority, and material false-positive considerations. LOW confidence is never an automatic-edit signal.
Quick Reference
| Need | Reference |
|---|---|
| Standard 24-smell model | Smell catalog |
| Evidence and false positives | Detection guide |
| Candidate refactorings | Smell-to-refactoring map |
Common Mistakes
- Treating a metric threshold as proof.
- Reporting a smell without a file/symbol and evidence.
- Treating every loop, switch, comment, wrapper, or pipeline as defective.
- Editing code when the user asked for diagnosis only.
