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Clippings/Stop Doing This Or Nobody Will Understand Your Code.md

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+---
+title: "Stop Doing This Or Nobody Will Understand Your Code"
+source: "https://medium.com/coding-beauty/methods-vs-properties-077cf44e972b"
+author:
+  - "[[Tari Ibaba]]"
+published: 2024-10-16
+created: 2024-10-29
+description: "This rule doesn’t just apply to async tasks, it applies to any long-running action, synchronous or not: It doesn’t just modify the backing _fullness field -- it changes multiple other fields. This…"
+tags:
+  - "clippings"
+---
+[
+
+![Tari Ibaba](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:88:88/1*hrkjW77qwMoev9kLXYZg5w.png)
+
+](https://medium.com/@tariibaba?source=post_page---byline--077cf44e972b--------------------------------)
+
+[
+
+![Coding Beauty](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:48:48/1*ViyWUoh4zqx294no1eENxw.png)
+
+](https://medium.com/coding-beauty?source=post_page---byline--077cf44e972b--------------------------------)
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*f1tKna6bzPXw_tFhKgyzJQ.png)
+
+I was coding and stumbled upon something really disappointing the other day.
+
+Do you see it? 👇
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*pmjV4iNa3VGiiVyd.png)
+
+Let’s zoom in a bit more:
+
+This line:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*GcpguHAAHvH7IVYl.png)
+
+Please don’t do this in any language.
+
+Don’t `await` properties.
+
+You’re destroying your code readability and ruining the whole concept of OOP.
+
+Properties are features not actions.
+
+They don’t **do** like methods. They are.
+
+They are data holders representing states of an object.
+
+Simple states:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*AWABHQ9Gd4P1JfFsFhP_Vw.png)
+
+Derived states — what getters are meant for:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*5yuHUzOTjaZFSz5xw9Brig.png)
+
+But the `status` property was returning a Dart `Future` -- JavaScript's `Promise` equivalent:
+
+❌Before:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*tJBCnpjKBlNVHqPl0ecA0A.png)
+
+It would have been so much better to use a method:
+
+✅ After:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*Ze0EpXUQ7rvxA3nulolKyQ.png)
+
+And now `async/await` can make things even more intuitive:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*7Jeaf91hcrf8k07Sl-CdyA.png)
+
+But guess what happens when you try `async/await` with properties?
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*edX2V83w7j2cLAix.png)
+
+Exactly. It’s a **property**.
+
+This rule doesn’t just apply to `async` tasks, it applies to any long-running action, synchronous or not:
+
+❌ Before:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*wyceIwJF4Xh-EOEKw5CEJw.png)
+
+✅ After:
+
+Let them know that the action is expensive enough to deserve caching or variable assignment:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*ipKw5sSjHKJqYfywMgwVwQ.png)
+
+But sometimes it still doesn’t deserve to be a property with this.
+
+Check this out — do you see the issue with the `level` setter property?
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*VNCORz5DHhxsD6Vb1C5BDA.png)
+
+It doesn’t just modify the backing `_fullness` field -- it changes multiple other fields. This doesn't make sense as a property, as data.
+
+It’s affecting so much aside from itself.
+
+**It has side-effects.**
+
+Setting this property multiple times modifies the object differently each time.
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*inyAYftsfI5Iuwzu9PatAA.png)
+
+So even though it doesn’t do much, it still needs to be a method.
+
+## Name them right
+
+Natural code. Coding like natural language.
+
+So always name the properties with nouns like we’ve been doing here.
+
+But you see what we did when it was time to make it a property?
+
+We made it a verb. Cause now it’s an action that does something.
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*hDM-y6OtRs3eSWoM5Wg1dw.png)
+
+Nouns for entities: variables, properties, classes, objects, and more.
+
+Not this:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*hZ0OuKdG3ppwK_oMOBoS4Q.png)
+
+But this:
+
+![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*LOwexu-HkZKIG096SOKeSA.png)
+
+Verbs for actions: functions and object methods.
+
+## Key points: when to use a method vs a property?
+
+Use a property when:
+
+- The action modifies or returns only the backing field.
+- The action is simple and inexpensive.
+
+Use a method when:
+
+- The action modifies multiple fields.
+- The action is async or expensive.
+
+All for clean, readable, intuitive code.