Software Design/Apparency of semantics

Apparency of semantics is a code quality characterizing how easy or hard it is to perceive the semantics (i. e. meaning, and/or inner workings) of code elements: expressions, statements, and functions.

Unlike apparency of purpose which is about how easy or hard it is to understand the "why" of the code, apparency of semantics is about the "what" of the code.

Relevant practices

• Object access chains: both hiding and exposing them may improve apparency of semantics of the code, depending on the context.
• Use class instead of primitive type