Antipatterns

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Self-Documenting.aspx

"A little while back, someone introduced the concept of 'self-documenting' code to our team," writes Ryan L. "It was certainly a step forward, but it's somehow taken us two steps backwards. Consider, for example, the following code from an MVC controller."

if (TheFormIsInvalid()) return View("Index", form);

... snip ...

private bool TheFormIsInvalid()
{
    return ModelState.IsValid == false;
}

"Is it really that much easier to follow than if (!ModelState.IsValid)? I'll set that question aside for the moment to instead present some other code from the same class that handles online registrations for events:

public bool IsEligibleToSeeThisEvent(EventRegistrationInformation eventRegistrationInformation)
{
  if (ThisEventDoesNotRestrictRegistrantsBasedUponActivityType(eventRegistrationInformation))
      return TrueBecauseThisEventDoesNotRegistrictBasedUponActivityType();

  var activityTypes = GetTheActivityTypesAttachedToThisEvent(eventRegistrationInformation);

  if (NoActivityTypesAreAttachedToThisEvent(activityTypes))
      return TrueBecauseThereAreNoActivityTypesToFilterOnThisEvent();

  if (TheUserIsNotLoggedIn(eventRegistrationInformation))
      return FalseBecauseNoActivityTypesAreAvailableForUsersWhoAreNotLoggedIn();

  return ThereIsAtLeastOneSharedActivityTypeBetweenTheEventAndCurrentUser(
           eventRegistrationInformation, 
		   activityTypes);
}

private static bool TrueBecauseThisEventDoesNotRegistrictBasedUponActivityType()
{
  return true;
}

 private bool ThisEventDoesNotRestrictRegistrantsBasedUponActivityType(
    EventRegistrationInformation eventRegistrationInformation)
{
  return eventActivityTypeFilterRetriever
      .DoesThisEventHaveARestrictionBasedOnActivityTypes(
          eventRegistrationInformation.EventId) == false;
}

private bool ThereIsAtLeastOneSharedActivityTypeBetweenTheEventAndCurrentUser(
    EventRegistrationInformation eventRegistrationInformation, 
	IEnumerable<ActivityType> activityTypes)
{
  var currentActivities = registrantActivityRetriever
    .GetRegistrantActivityProductCode(eventRegistrationInformation.AccountId);

  return activityTypes.Any(x => currentActivities.Any(y => y.Id == x.Id));
}

private static bool FalseBecauseNoActivityTypesAreAvailableForUsersWhoAreNotLoggedIn()
{
  return false;
}

private static bool TheUserIsNotLoggedIn(EventRegistrationInformation eventRegistrationInformation)
{
  return eventRegistrationInformation.IsLoggedIn == false;
}

private static bool TrueBecauseThereAreNoActivityTypesToFilterOnThisEvent()
{
  return true;
}

private static bool NoActivityTypesAreAttachedToThisEvent(IEnumerable<ActivityType> activityTypes)
{
  return activityTypes.Any() == false;
}

private IEnumerable<ActivityType> GetTheActivityTypesAttachedToThisEvent(
    EventRegistrationInformation eventRegistrationInformation)
{
  return eventActivityTypeFilterRetriever.GetAll(eventRegistrationInformation.EventId);
}