Cataloging Dependency Injection Anti-patterns in Software Systems

Dependency Injection (DI) is a prevalent technique employed in software systems. By delegating the dependency provision to an independent agent (i.e., a DI framework), developers often benefit from high-modular components. However, the misuse of the DI technique leads to higher maintenance efforts. As the literature presents no comprehensive characterization of bad DI implementation practices, we put forth an investigation that led to the proposition and evaluation of a novel catalog of DI anti-patterns and refactorings. The proposed anti-patterns appear frequently in both open-source and industry projects. Furthermore, practitioners confirm the relevance and usefulness of the catalog.