<s>
In	O
object-oriented	B-Language
programming	I-Language
,	O
"	O
data	B-Application
clump	I-Application
"	O
is	O
a	O
name	O
given	O
to	O
any	O
group	O
of	O
variables	O
which	O
are	O
passed	O
around	O
together	O
(	O
in	O
a	O
clump	O
)	O
throughout	O
various	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
data	B-Application
clump	I-Application
,	O
like	O
other	O
code	O
smells	O
,	O
can	O
indicate	O
deeper	O
problems	O
with	O
the	O
program	O
design	O
or	O
implementation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
group	O
of	O
variables	O
that	O
typically	O
make	O
up	O
a	O
data	B-Application
clump	I-Application
are	O
often	O
closely	O
related	O
or	O
interdependent	O
and	O
are	O
often	O
used	O
together	O
in	O
a	O
group	O
as	O
a	O
result	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
data	B-Application
clump	I-Application
is	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
a	O
specific	O
kind	O
of	O
class-level	O
code	O
smell	O
that	O
may	O
be	O
a	O
symptom	O
of	O
poorly	O
written	O
source	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
general	O
,	O
data	B-Application
clumps	I-Application
should	O
be	O
refactored	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
presence	O
of	O
data	B-Application
clumps	I-Application
typically	O
indicates	O
poor	O
software	O
design	O
because	O
it	O
would	O
be	O
more	O
appropriate	O
to	O
formally	O
group	O
the	O
different	O
variables	O
together	O
into	O
a	O
single	O
object	O
,	O
and	O
pass	O
around	O
only	O
this	O
object	O
instead	O
of	O
the	O
numerous	O
primitives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
an	O
object	O
to	O
replace	O
a	O
data	B-Application
clump	I-Application
can	O
reduce	O
the	O
overall	O
code	O
size	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
help	O
the	O
program	O
code	O
to	O
remain	O
better	O
organized	O
,	O
easier	O
to	O
read	O
,	O
and	O
easier	O
to	O
debug	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
process	O
of	O
removing	O
data	B-Application
clumps	I-Application
runs	O
the	O
risk	O
of	O
creating	O
a	O
different	O
type	O
of	O
code	O
smell	O
(	O
a	O
data	O
class	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
class	O
that	O
only	O
stores	O
data	O
and	O
does	O
not	O
have	O
any	O
methods	B-Language
for	O
actually	O
operating	O
on	O
the	O
data	O
)	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
class	O
will	O
encourage	O
the	O
programmer	O
to	O
see	O
functionality	O
that	O
might	O
be	O
included	O
here	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
object-oriented	B-Language
programming	I-Language
,	O
the	O
purpose	O
of	O
objects	O
is	O
to	O
encapsulate	O
both	O
relevant	O
data	O
(	O
fields	O
)	O
and	O
operations	O
(	O
methods	B-Language
)	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
performed	O
on	O
this	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
long	O
list	O
of	O
parameters/variables	O
does	O
not	O
necessarily	O
indicate	O
a	O
data	B-Application
clump	I-Application
;	O
it	O
is	O
only	O
when	O
the	O
various	O
values	O
here	O
are	O
intimately	O
and	O
logically	O
related	O
that	O
their	O
presence	O
is	O
considered	O
a	O
data	B-Application
clump	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
suggests	O
that	O
the	O
method	O
is	O
trying	O
to	O
do	O
far	O
too	O
much	O
and	O
would	O
be	O
better	O
broken	O
into	O
multiple	O
methods	B-Language
,	O
each	O
of	O
which	O
is	O
responsible	O
for	O
a	O
smaller	O
piece	O
of	O
the	O
overall	O
responsibility	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Refactoring	O
to	O
eliminate	O
data	B-Application
clumps	I-Application
does	O
not	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
done	O
by	O
hand	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Naturally	O
,	O
data	B-Application
clumps	I-Application
can	O
exist	O
in	O
any	O
object-oriented	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
this	O
gives	O
the	O
opportunity	O
to	O
move	O
associated	O
methods	B-Language
into	O
the	O
class	O
so	O
that	O
they	O
can	O
easily	O
operate	O
upon	O
individual	O
instances	O
thereof	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
methods	B-Language
no	O
longer	O
require	O
passing	O
around	O
a	O
tedious	O
list	O
of	O
parameters	O
,	O
as	O
they	O
are	O
instead	O
stored	O
as	O
instance	B-Application
variables	I-Application
upon	O
the	O
object	O
instances	O
themselves	O
.	O
</s>
