Is copy-and-paste coding ever acceptable?

Question

It's generally accepted that copy and paste programming is a bad idea, but what is the best way to handle a situation where you have two functions or blocks of code that really do need to be different in just a few ways make generalizing them extremely messy?

What if the code is substantially the same, except for a few minor variations, but those few minor variations aren't in things that are easy to factor out through either adding a parameter, template methods, or something like that?

More generally, have you ever encountered a situation where you would admit that a little copy-and-paste coding was truly justified.

Answer 1

Yes, and it's exactly as you say; minor but hard-to-factor variations. Don't flagellate yourself if it's really what the situation calls for.

Answer 2

ABSOLUTELY NEEEVER..

:)

_{You could post the code in question and see that it is easier than what it looks like}

Answer 3

Of course it's sometimes acceptable. That's why people keep snippet files. But if you're cutting and pasting code very often, or with more than a few lines, you should think about making it a subroutine. Why? because odds on you'll have to change something, and this way, you only need to change it once.

Middle case is to use a macro if you have such available.

Answer 4

Ask this question about your functions

"if this small requirement changes, will I have to change both functions in order to satisfy it?"

Answer 5

I'm glad this one is tagged as subjective because it certainly is! This is an overly vague example, but I would imagine that if you have enough code that is duplicated that you could abstract those sections out and keep the different parts different. The point of not copy-pasting is so you don't end up having code that is hard to maintain and fragile.

Answer 6

It is usually an indicator that your function isn't properly encapsulated if this happens to you.

I always try to re-factor but if is an emergency, a quick wrapper who takes on the result for the old function and adds the new functionality is a "nicer" solution than just copy and paste.

Answer 7

I avoid cut and paste like the plague. It's even worse than its cousin clone and modify. If faced with a situation like yours I'm always ready to use a macro processor or other script to generate the different variations. In my experience a single point of truth is hugely important.

Unfortunately the C macro processor is not very good for this purpose because of the annoying quoting requirements for newlines, expressions, statements, and arguments. I hate writing

#define RETPOS(E) do { if ((E) > 0) then return; } while(0)

but that quoting is a necessity. I will often use the C preprocessor despite its deficiencies because it doesn't add another item to the toolchain and so doesn't require changing the build process or Makefiles.

Answer 8

If it is the only way to do it, then go for it. Often times (depending on the language), you can satisfy minor changes to the same function with an optional argument.

Recently, I had an add() function and an edit() function in a PHP script. They both did virtually the same thing, but the edit() function performed an UPDATE query instead of an INSERT query. I just did something like

function add($title, $content, $edit = false)
{
    # ...
    $sql = edit ? "UPDATE ..." : "INSERT ...";
    mysql_unbuffered_query($sql);
}

Worked out great -- but there are other times when copy/paste is necessary. Don't use some weird, complicated path to prevent it.

Answer 9

The best way (besides convert into common functions or use macros) is to put comments in. If you comment where the code is copied from and to, and what the commonality is, and the differences, and the reason for doing it... then you'll be ok.

Answer 10

If you find that you have functions which are mostly the same, but in different scenarios require slight tweaks, it is your design that is the problem. Use polymorphism and composition instead of flags or copy-paste.

Answer 11

In my company's code base, we have a series of about 10 or so big hairy SQL statements that have a high degree of commonality. All of the statements have a common core, or at least a core that only differs by a word or two. Then, you could group the 10 statements into 3 or 4 groupings that add common appendages to the core, again with maybe one or two words different in each appendage. At any rate, think of the 10 SQL statements as sets in a Venn diagram with significant overlap.

We chose to code these statements in such as way as to avoid any duplication. So, there is a function (technically, a Java method) to build the statement. It takes some parameters that account for the word or two of difference in the common core. Then, it takes a functor for building out the appendages, which of course is also parameterized with more parameters for minor differences and more functors for more appendages, and so on.

The code is clever in that none of the SQL is ever repeated. If you ever need to modify a clause in the SQL, you modify it in just one place and all 10 SQL statements are modified accordingly.

But man is the code hard to read. About the only way to figure out what SQL is going to be executed for a given case is to step through with a debugger and print out the SQL after it has been completely assembled. And figuring out how a particular function that generates a clause fits into the bigger picture is nasty.

Since writing this, I've often wondered if we would have been better off just cutting-and-pasting the SQL query 10 times. Of course, if we did this, any change to the SQL might have to occur in 10 places, but comments could help point us to the 10 places to update.

The benefit of having the SQL understandable and all in one place would probably outweigh the disadvantages of cutting-and-pasting the SQL.

Answer 12

Re Is cut-and-past ever acceptable:

Yes. When the segment is slightly different and you're doing disposable systems ( systems that are there for a very short amount of time and won't need maintenance ). Otherwise, its usually better to extract the commonalities out.

Re segments that look a like but not exactly alike:

If the difference is in the data, refactor by extracting the function and using the difference in data as parameters (If there are too many to data to pass as a parameter, consider grouping them into an object or structure). If the difference is in some process in the function, refactor by using command pattern or abstract template. If it's still hard to refactor even with these design patterns, then your function might be trying to handle to many responsibilities on its own.

For example, if you have a code segment that differs in two segments - diff#1, and diff#2. And in diff#1, you can have diff1A, or diff1B, and for diff#2 you can have diff2A and diff2B.

If diff1A & diff2A are always together, and diff1B & diff2B are always together, then diff1A & diff2A can be contained in one command class or one abstract template implementation, and diff1B & diff2B in another.

However, if there are several combination ( i.e. diff1A & diff2A, diff1A & diff2B, diff1B & diff2A, diff1B & diff2B ), then you may want to rethink your function because it may be trying to handle too many responsibilities on its own.

Re SQL statements:

Using logics (if-else, loops ) to build your SQL dynamically sacrifices readability. But creating all SQL variations would be hard to maintain. So meet half-way and use SQL Segments. Extract commonalities out as SQL segments and create all SQL variations with those SQL segments as constants.

For example:

private static final String EMPLOYEE_COLUMNS = " id, fName, lName, status";

private static final String EMPLOYEE_TABLE = " employee";

private static final String EMPLOYEE_HAS_ACTIVE_STATUS = " employee";

private static final String GET_EMPLOYEE_BY_STATUS =
  " select" + EMPLOYEE_COLUMNS + " from" + EMPLOYEE_TABLE + " where" + EMPLOYEE_HAS_ACTIVE_STATUS;

private static final String GET_EMPLOYEE_BY_SOMETHING_ELSE =
  " select" + EMPLOYEE_COLUMNS + " from" + EMPLOYEE_TABLE + " where" + SOMETHING_ELSE;

Answer 13

I've heard people say the will copy and paste once (limiting duplication of code to at most two instances), as abstractions don't pay off unless you use the code in three places or more. () Myself, I try to make it a good habit of refactoring as soon as I see the need.

Answer 14

As Martin Fowler suggests,

do it once, fine.

do it twice, starts to smell.

do it thrice, time to refactor.

---

EDIT: in answer to the comment, the origin of the advice is Don Roberts:

Three strikes and you refactor.

Martin Fowler describes that in Refactoring chapter 2, section The Rule of Three (page 58).

Answer 15

1. Good code is reusable code.
2. Don't reinvent the wheel.
3. Examples exist for a reason: to help you learn, and ideally code better.

Should you copy and paste? Who cares! What is important is why you're copy and pasting. I'm not trying to get philosophical on anyone here, but let's think about this practically:

Is it out of laziness? "Blah blah, I've done this before... I'm only changing a few variable names.. done."

Not a problem if it was already good code before you copied and pasted it. Otherwise, you're perpetuating crappy code out of laziness which will bite your ass down the road.

Is it because you don't understand? "Damn.. I don't understand how that function works, but I wonder if it'll work in my code.." It might! This may save you time in the immediate moment when you're stressed that you have a deadline at 9 a.m. and you're staring red eyed at a clock around 4 a.m.

Will you understand this code when you return to it? Even if you comment it? No really - after thousands of lines of code, if you don't understand what the code is doing as you write it how will you understand coming back to it weeks, months later? Attempt to learn it, despite all temptation otherwise. Type it out, this will help commit it to memory. Each line you type, ask yourself what that line is doing and how it contributes to the overall purpose of that function. Even if you don't learn it inside out, you might have a chance at recognizing it at the very least when you return to it later on.

So - copying and pasting code? Fine if you're conscious of the implications of what you're doing. Otherwise? Don't do it. Also, make sure you have a copy of the license of any 3rd party code you copy and paste. Seems common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people don't.