Consolidate Duplicate Conditional Fragments

The same fragment of code is in all branches of a conditional expression.

Move it outside of the expression.

      if (isSpecialDeal()) {
          total = price * 0.95;
          send();
      }
      else {
          total = price * 0.98;
          send();
      }

      if (isSpecialDeal())
          total = price * 0.95;
      else
          total = price * 0.98;
      send();

Motivation

Sometimes you find the same code executed in all legs of a conditional. In that case you should move the code to outside the conditional. This makes clearer what varies and what stays the same.

Mechanics

• Identify code that is executed the same way regardless of the condition.
• If the common code is at the beginning, move it to before the conditional.
• If the common code is at the end, move it to after the conditional.
• If the common code is in the middle, look to see whether the code before or after it changes anything. If it does, you can move the common code forward or backward to the ends. You can then move it as described for code at the end or the beginning.
• If there is more than a single statement, you should extract that code into a method.

Example

You find this situation with code such as the following:

      if (isSpecialDeal()) {
          total = price * 0.95;
          send();
      }
      else {
          total = price * 0.98;
          send();
      }

Because the send method is executed in either case, I should move it out of the conditional:

      if (isSpecialDeal())
          total = price * 0.95;
      else
          total = price * 0.98;
      send();

The same situation can apply to exceptions. If code is repeated after an exception-causing statement in the try block and all the catch blocks, I can move it to the final block.