Lazy Element

Apply refactorings

Symptom

A class, function, or namespace that exists but does nothing meaningful — a one-line wrapper, an empty subclass, a passthrough method.

Goal

Trivial wrappers disappear; the call site says exactly what's happening.

Smellier version

function getName(user) {
  return user.name;
}
const n = getName(user);

Fresher version

const n = user.name;

Example source: Illustrative example written for this site, not a quotation from any source.

Pressure

Reader pays a navigation cost to discover the wrapper adds nothing; future changes are tempted to add real work to it.

Tradeoff

Inlining the wrapper at every call site can leak its body across files; if the wrapper later genuinely needs work, the team will have to re-extract it after the fact.

Relief

Shorter call chains, less indirection to unwrap when reading; one fewer file to maintain.

Trap

Aggressive inlining of trivial-looking wrappers that actually mark a real seam — the wrapper's emptiness was the point (extension point, mocking boundary), and removing it forecloses options.