Code Clarity Decision Examples

Positive example — visible critical behavior

• Context: a consequential workflow applies eligibility rules and records a state transition.
• Mode: explicit-critical-path.
• Decision: name each eligibility result, keep the transition and audit action visible, and return distinct failure outcomes.
• Why it fits: the reader can trace decisions and effects without knowing hidden conventions.
• Rejected alternative: compress the workflow into a chained expression with implicit defaults.

Negative example — extraction by size

• Context: a balanced local change touches one cohesive operation.
• Mode: balanced.
• Bad decision: split every few lines into generic helpers to satisfy a size target.
• Why it fails: navigation increases while names add no domain meaning or independent reuse.
• Better decision: extract only coherent named operations and leave short connective flow together.