TL;DR: Use real abstractions and real objects instead of string accidental manipulation.

Problems

• Complexity

• Readability

• Maintainability

• Lack of Abstractions

Solutions

• Work with objects instead of strings.

• Replace strings with data structures dealing with object relations.

• Find Bijection problems between real objects and the strings.

Examples

• Serializers

• Parsers

Sample Code

Wrong

val schoolDescription = "College of Springfield"

// location = "Springfield"
val location = """[^ ]*\$""".toRegex()
    .find(schoolDescription)?.value

// school = "College"
val school = """^[\w]+""".toRegex()
    .find(schoolDescription)?.value

Right

class School(
    private val name: String,
    private val location: Location
) {
    fun description() = "$name of ${location.name}"
}

class Location(
    val name: String
)

Conclusion

Don't abuse strings. Favor real objects. Find absent protocol to distinguish them from strings.

Credits

• Code Smell 04 - String Abusers by Maxi Contieri