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=                          Big ball of mud                           =
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                             Introduction                             
======================================================================
Spaghetti code is computer source code that encodes control flow that
is convoluted, and therefore, hard to understand.
Control statements direct program execution in ways that instead of
having a quality of structure, resembles cooked spaghetti, twisted and
tangled.
The code tends to be hard to maintain.

Since control flow logic encoded via the goto statement tends to lead
to convoluted control flow, use of goto is often associated with a
classification as spaghetti code. The practice of structured
programming was envisioned to eliminate the need for and use of the
goto statement as one way to avoid the production of spaghetti code.
Ensuring the creation of high-quality software, instead of spaghetti
code, often involves aspects such as using better tools, training
developers and improving software development processes.

Spaghetti code can also describe an anti-pattern in which
object-oriented code is written in a procedural style, such as by
creating classes whose methods are overly long and messy, or forsaking
object-oriented concepts like polymorphism. The presence of this form
of spaghetti code can significantly reduce the comprehensibility of a
system.


                               History                                
======================================================================
It is unclear when the phrase 'spaghetti code' was coined; however, a
reference appeared in 1972: "The principal motivation behind
eliminating the goto statement is the hope that the resulting programs
will not look like a bowl of spaghetti." by Martin Hopkins. In the
1978 book 'A primer on disciplined programming using PL/I, PL/CS, and
PL/CT', Richard Conway described programs that "have the same clean
logical structure as a plate of spaghetti", a phrase repeated in the
1979 book 'An Introduction to Programming' he co-authored with David
Gries. In the 1988 paper 'A spiral model of software development and
enhancement', the term is used to describe the older practice of the
'code and fix model', which lacked planning and eventually led to the
development of the waterfall model. In the 1979 book 'Structured
programming for the COBOL programmer', author Paul Noll uses the
phrases 'spaghetti code' and 'rat's nest' as synonyms to describe
poorly structured source code.

In the 'Ada - Europe '93' conference, Ada was described as forcing the
programmer to "produce understandable, instead of spaghetti code",
because of its restrictive exception propagation mechanism.

In a 1980 publication by the United States National Bureau of
Standards, the phrase 'spaghetti program' was used to describe older
programs having "fragmented and scattered files".

In a 1981 computer languages spoof in 'The Michigan Technic' titled
"BASICally speaking...FORTRAN bytes!!", the author described FORTRAN
stating that "it consists entirely of spaghetti code".

Richard Hamming described in his lectures the etymology of the term in
the context of early programming in binary codes:


 Simple 
========
The following BASIC code, a program that prints 1 to 100, is a
relatively simple example of code that can be more easily understood
with structured control flow instead of using goto. The use of  for
looping and lack of indentation leads to less than clear logic flow.


1 i=0
2 i=i+1
3 PRINT i
4 IF i>=100 THEN GOTO 6
5 GOTO 2
6 END


The following code produces the same result, but uses a structured
loop statement and indentation to improve readability.


1 FOR i=1 TO 100
2     PRINT i
3 NEXT i
4 END


 More representative 
=====================
The following code implements a numeric sorting algorithm. The use of
goto statements results in a spaghetti-like nature to the control
flow.


INPUT "How many numbers should be sorted? "; T
DIM n(T)
FOR i = 1 TO T
PRINT "NUMBER:"; i
INPUT n(i)
NEXT i
'Calculations:
C = T
E180:
C = INT(C / 2)
IF C = 0 THEN GOTO C330
D = T - C
E = 1
I220:
f = E
F230:
g = f + C
IF n(f) > n(g) THEN SWAP n(f), n(g)
f = f - C
IF f > 0 THEN GOTO F230
E = E + 1
IF E > D THEN GOTO E180
GOTO I220
C330:
PRINT "The sorted list is"
FOR i = 1 TO T
PRINT n(i)
NEXT i


 Big ball of mud{{anchor |big-ball-o-mud}} 
===========================================
A big ball of mud is a software system that lacks a perceivable
architecture. Although undesirable from a software engineering point
of view, such systems are common in practice due to business
pressures, developer turnover and software entropy. The term was
popularized by Brian Foote and Joseph Yoder although they credit Brian
Marick for coining the term.


 Pasta-related 
===============
Inspired by the popularity of 'spaghetti code', other pasta-oriented
terms that describe the structural nature of code include:

; Lasagna code: Lasagna code has layers that are so intertwined that
making a change in one layer necessitates changing other layers too.

; Ravioli code: Ravioli code comprises well-structured classes that
are easy to understand in isolation but in combination result in less
than clear system design.


                               See also                               
======================================================================
* '
*
*


                            External links                            
======================================================================
* [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=362929.362947 Go To Statement
Considered Harmful]. The classic repudiation of spaghetti code by
Edsger Dijkstra
* [http://www.fortran.com/fortran/come_from.html 'We don't know where
to GOTO if we don't know where we've COME FROM' by R. Lawrence Clark
from DATAMATION, December, 1973]
* [http://yost.com/computers/java/java-spaghetti/ Refactoring Java
spaghetti code into Java bento code] separating out a bowl full of
code from one class into seven classes
*
[https://archive.today/20130201082958/http://www.remotesynthesis.com/post.cfm/Objects-and-Frameworks--Taking-a-Step-Back
Objects and Frameworks - Taking a Step Back] by Brian Rinaldi
*
[https://blog.docsity.com/en/study-tips/programming-2/programming-pasta-spaghetti-lasagna-ravioli-macaroni-code/
Programming Pasta - Spaghetti, Lasagna, Ravioli and Macaroni Code]
* [https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24994/pasta-theory Pasta
Theory of Programming]


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=========
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License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_ball_of_mud


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