Imagine staring into the distance, wondering how your code turned from maintainable to a maze. Is your code a hot mess or just a slow decay? Here are 4 hints that something is horribly wrong: ✨ Magic Values Are Killing You : One of the easiest ways to make code worse is to fill it with numbers and strings that “everyone understands.” Using arbitrary values like timeout, retry count, or delay can lead to tiny mysteries that nobody remembers. Instead, use meaningful constants to explain your intent. For example, CONNECTION_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 15 instead of hardcoding 15 everywhere. But what if those values are not just numbers? Are they priorities? Are there rules for using them? 🔥 Dictionaries Are Not Your Friends : Dictionaries can be useful, but when they stay in your codebase for too long, it's a sign of laziness. What fields are required? Can age be a string? Is "yes" acceptable instead of True ? What happens if someone writes "admni" instead of "is_admin"?…