Epäcoding

Epäcoding is a term used in some Finnish-speaking software development communities to describe a set of coding practices that undermine software quality, typically by prioritizing immediate results over long-term maintainability.

The word combines epä, meaning "not" or "un-", with coding, suggesting that the code produced under this label is "not coding" in the sense of producing substandard work.

Common traits include quick and dirty hacks, lack of design, insufficient tests, poor documentation, hard-coded values, duplicated logic, brittle structures, inconsistent style, and minimal error handling.

Consequences include higher maintenance costs, more bugs, and slower feature delivery, while mitigation involves refactoring, code reviews, comprehensive testing, documentation updates, and adherence to coding standards.

In practice, epäcoding is discussed as a cautionary concept rather than an established discipline; it overlaps with technical debt and anti-patterns, and it is often used to frame discussions about software quality.