An average developer can write code for computers, But a good developer writes clean code for humans (and for computers).
There are blogs like aCompiler.com where you can learn more advanced practices about Software Development, Clean Code, Git, Agile and much more.
Clean code is a code that is easy to understand, easy to debug & maintain. There are multiple characteristics of clean code. Three essential elements of clean code are
- Clean code can be easy to read, understand, and enhance by any developer ( and not only be the original coder).
- It uses worldwide terminology such as defining variables, functions, and classes so the reader can promptly understand the core idea of the code.
- Clean code has good coverage of unit tests
Importance of Clean code
Most of the successful digital products, software use core principles – one of them is clean code.
A code has to be as efficient, readable, and easily maintainable. Most tech company engineers usually spend significant time putting their efforts into the design, logic, and architecture of the code.
The clean code fosters collaboration with other experts and attracts open-source contributors to the development of digital products by contributing and enhancing the code’s quality.
In other words, the code should not have any ambiguity to avoid misunderstandings. For instance, the software’s execution flow should be clear, how unique gadgets function, the cause of every expression and variable, and so forth.
A code can be extremely vital to have the potential to expand and refactor your code effortlessly.
Reasons Why Clean Code Matters
#1. Clearness
Any software provider company ensures that the digital product code is efficiently working and has no erroneous bugs. In general, code is written by people who are co-workers in the company. If any co-author leaves the company, the rest co-workers should not have issues with code modifications since it should be self explainable.
In other words, every developer should cope with the code and make it as smooth and clean as feasible for example if you are working on git then advanced git tips help you to make sure your repository is clean.
Software developers are like good writers; excellent writers are known for writing books that convey a straightforward and compelling story. Good writers use chapters, headings, and paragraphs to arrange their thoughts pleasantly for their readers.
Similarly, code developers work in a very similar manner with gadgets development. They use namespaces, training, and techniques instead of words.
#2. Best Practices
In current years, first-class software practices like unit testing, TDD, and CI help elevate code nicely and maintainability. Implementing easy code standards is a foundational skill that pays off incredibly well while refactoring code or carrying code under testing.
And as a development team, you should follow best practices from your source control, in your database design, in your backend and front end programming.
For example, if a code is clean, comfortable to read, and test, it will establish a foundation for a well-established and efficient digital product or software.
#3. The logic behind the code
A clean code provides a rational justification, plausible logic, and opportunity for further development. Clean code always has concrete logic, patterns, and techniques that ensure it can be easily maintainable.
Code is considered a clean code if a good software developer (who is not the principal author of the code) can:
- easily understand the execution flow of the application.
- easily understand how different objects collaborate.
- easily understand the purpose of each variable and expression.
- easily understand the functionalities of each method.
The clean code is easy to extend, refactor, debug, and fix bugs in the codebase.
#4. Maintenance
Writing code is notably smooth; however, reading someone’s code is crucial. Therefore, many software development teams prefer to rewrite their code as compared to reading and comprehending the other code.
If the existing code is readable, it saves a substantial amount of time and effort and helps not write code from scratch. This approach is cost-effective and enhances the working environment’s efficiency without difficulty for the code’s readability.
Additionally, it helps to appreciate others’ efforts for the excellent quality of code. Moreover, if a code is easy to maintain, any business will not require several people for maintenance. Consequently, this will help reduce the maintenance; costs that will eventually optimize a whole company’s efficiency.
#5. Easy To Test
Through the development of clean code, it is recommended to test the code automatically.
In other words, automatic testing refers to check-driven development – which is the most effective way to enhance code productivity and reduce the variety of software defects.
Eventually, all these factors substantially contribute to the Return On Investment (ROI) on the digital product’s market.
How Clean Code can help to grow Your Business
#1. Readability over conciseness
Clean code can help to follow international standards and create a standard quality base to ensure that the customers are experiencing the best services.
Furthermore, it is significant to promote a healthy working collaborative environment and agile techniques among team’s members. Moreover, it is essential to optimize the code for new colleagues or someone who took the task from the sprint backlog that typically requires either new skills or recalling some concepts.
#2. Discard what is not needed
The advancement in technology has made machines possible to read and understand code (machine-readable code).
Continuous improvement and iterative approach provide better results with agile process models (such as Scrum).
Consequently, this feature will make things simple, easy to understand the users’ problem. It will help provide solutions to peculiar user-centric issues, which leads to a focus on a particular target group.
#3. Avoid unnecessary repetition
Clean code development helps to maintain flexibility over the long term. However, it is incredibly vital to remove repetitions that can lead to induce complicated challenges.
DRY principle (Don’t Repeat Yourself), in software development help, to reduce repetition of information. Writing less code is good. It saves efforts and time and reduces the chances of bugs.
By avoiding unnecessary repetitions, it is convenient to avoid further complexities when introducing new products that could potentially create new problems.
Therefore, clean code development can help to effectively tackle such challenges by just writing clean and readable code.
Conclusion
The study shows that clean code development and other characteristics can flourish any business. These characteristics include the individual attitude to the working place, team commitment and discipline, adaptability, and a willingness to learn about new technologies can bring long-lasting benefits to any business.
Furthermore, clean code development provides an implementation approach that can be deployed directly within the code.
In other words, the study shows that combining clean code, agile methods and a security concept can produce high-quality software.
Finally, this study also shows that team discussions among code developers about defining the term “clean” software are vital to defining a clear roadmap to present a digital solution.
This discussion can be extremely fruitful to have many intrinsically motivated software craftsmen on the development team and make the project successful through determination and commitment.