People do, in fact, speak with commas, periods, hyphens, etc. They are implemented in the length of time between words and voice inflections. Punctuation reflects how the words should be spoken as an intelligible phrase. Not using punctuation (when one can, of course) is just poor writing or laziness. As for the OP question "Is this spaghetti?", it depends on the context of the project as a whole. I lean towards the old saying, "The more they overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." Or a similar old saying, "Make it as simple as possible, but no simpler." The context of the project as a whole may dictate the inheritance complexity you see, or it could just be some developer who understands how to implement some arcane design pattern, but not why or when it is apporpriate.