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Software Engineering vocabulary · Code Review and Code Quality

Feature envy

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In software engineering, feature envy means: A code smell where a method relies heavily on another object's data, suggesting its responsibility may be misplaced.

In Turkish: başka sınıfın verisine aşırı bağımlılık

How it is used

Used in object-oriented reviews. External data access alone is not enough to justify moving a method.

Example sentences

  1. The pricing method showed feature envy by repeatedly reading the order's internal fields.

    Repeated access raises the question of whether the behavior belongs closer to the order data.

  2. The reviewer suspected feature envy but kept the calculation in a separate policy object.

    A deliberate policy boundary can outweigh the smell; the label is a clue, not a rule.

Common collocations

  • detect feature envy
  • feature envy code smell
  • code smellA sign in code that suggests a deeper design problem, such as a very long function, duplicated logic or too many parameters, even if the code works.
  • encapsulationKeeping an object's internal state behind a controlled interface so that other code does not depend on its internal representation.

More terms: Code Review and Code Quality

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