Stub Code

Stubs are exception to these code smell rules. These are placeholders for future code, such as functions or classes that have yet to be implemented.

Instead of using a pass statement such as:

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>>> def exampleFunction():
...     pass
...

Which when run will do nothing, instead use raise NotImplementedError statement.

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>>> def exampleFunction():
...     raise NotImplementedError
...
>>> exampleFunction()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 2, in exampleFunction
  NotImplementedError

This will warn you whenever your program calls a stub function or method accident.