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JavaScript JavaScript Loops, Arrays and Objects Tracking Data Using Objects The Student Record Search Challenge Solution

Posted by saber
saber
13,276 Points

Mental flag for when to create a function?

I'm wondering if there's a way that anyone has trained themselves mentally to recognize when code should be moved to a function?

In this video for example, it never occurred to me to create the getStudentReport function because it didn't seem to have any effect in terms of the DRY programming principle. It seems like it was more for the sake of separating the code into separate logical blocks of functionality. This totally makes sense... but I'm wondering if there's a way to scan through like... my existing pet projects that I've made and quickly recognize when it makes sense to separate code into its own function just for the sake of separation if there's no obvious DRY benefit.

Like, are there rules of thumb or best practices for this?

1 Answer

Michael Makali'i Fernandez
Michael Makali'i Fernandez
8,090 Points

In general a function should do just one thing. For example: if your function asks for a series of integers, sorts them in order, prints the ordered list, and then prints the highest value; all of that is too much for one function to do and it may be best to split it into several functions, with each task having its own function.

saber
saber
13,276 Points

Makes sense.