A typical code smell known as unused function parameters refers to parameters declared in a function but not used anywhere within the function’s
body. While this might seem harmless at first glance, it can lead to confusion and potential errors in your code. Disregarding the values passed to
such parameters, the function’s behavior will be the same, but the programmer’s intention won’t be clearly expressed anymore. Therefore, removing
function parameters that are not being utilized is considered best practice.
Exceptions
The rule ignores the following cases:
- event handlers.
- overriding methods.
- all methods in classes implementing one or more interfaces.
- empty methods or methods where the body consists of a single comment or a single
throw statement (i.e. where the intention is to
simulate an abstract class).
override function doSomething(a:int):void { // ignored
compute(a);
}
...
class AbstractSomething {
public function doSomething(a:int) { // ignored
throw new IllegalOperationError("doSomething() is abstract");
}
...
interface I {
function action(a:int, b:int);
}
class C extends I {
function action(a:int, b:int) { // ignored
return doSomethignWith(a);
}
}
function clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void { // ignored
trace("click");
}
