Every Case Is Special
Special cases are everywhere. This one little thing has to work this other way. Soon, there is an if/else chain twenty conditions long. Worse, that if/else chain is embedded in another chain of twelve conditions, all in one happy method. The next person making a kind of change has to tack on another condition and hope nothing blows up. We know it's bad when we see a bird's nest like that. How can we deal with it? Why should we? The problem with code no one understands is that no one understands it. We will have a huge problem the day it stops working. We assume that, if it works now, it will work forever. That is a faulty assumption. The world changes around us. The solid rock beneath that code can erode away. And our hair will be on fire when that day comes. Special cases are special. Normal cases are also special. Every case is special in some way. There are some classic special cases common to many code bases. There are quirky special cases unique to your own code. We ne