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<overview>

<p>

This metric measures the number of fields in classes below this

location in the tree. At a class level, it just measures the number of

fields in the class itself.

</p>

<p>

There are at least a couple of reasons why a class may have too many fields:

</p>

<ul>

<li>The class in general may be too big / have too many responsibilities.</li>

<li>Several of the fields may be part of the same abstraction.</li>

</ul>

</overview>

<recommendation>

<p>

The best resolution depends on the underlying reason behind it:

</p>

<ul>

<li>

If the class is too big, it should be split into multiple smaller classes.

</li>

<li>

If several of the fields are part of the same abstraction, they should be

grouped into a separate class, using the 'Extract Class' refactoring described

in [Fowler].

</li>

</ul>

</recommendation>

<references>

<li>

M. Fowler. <em>Refactoring</em> pp. 65, 122-5. Addison-Wesley, 1999.

</li>

<li>

R. Martin. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByOwmqah_nuGNHEtcU5OekdDMkk/view">The Single Responsibility Principle</a>. Published online.

</li>

</references>

</qhelp>