Software development is a very complex process that consists of many interlocking components in one system. When a system is so big that a single person cannot understand it alone, it is even more important to write clean code. In our view, there are a few of our best practices as well as tips and recommendations that can make prime software development smoother and more efficient.
Any professional programmer can sing a song about spending most of their time reading code instead of writing it. You’re more likely to be working on existing code than writing something from scratch. Therefore, it is important that your code is easy for other software developers to understand.
In this blog article, we give you some tips and recommendations to improve your technique when writing production-level code. But first, let’s look at three important principles that any good programmer should keep in mind.
The modern programming triathlon: KISS, YAGNY & DRY
Have you heard of the principles of KISS, YAGNY, and DRY? These are important formulas in software development in order to program complex applications as simple as possible. Taking the three principles into account results in better, more correct, and more understandable code.
1. The KISS principle
The popular acronym KISS stands for “Keep it simple, stupid.” It means not to make something more complicated than it is. This is particularly relevant in software development.
The key word here is “simple”, which means keeping the code as clean as possible. Get to the heart of the program code and avoid unnecessary engineering effort. The KISS principle ensures that your code follows the least complex solution path and is therefore also highly maintainable.
2. The YAGNI principle
Another acronym popular among software developers is called YAGNI. It means ” You Ain’t Gonna Need It “. This principle focuses on eliminating unnecessary coding and works in tandem with the KISS principle.
Meticulous engineers instinctively start planning and listing everything that could be used during the project. Sometimes this results in components in the software that are never used. So it’s always a good idea to avoid coding something you don’t need at the moment. You can always add it later if circumstances change.
3. The DRY principle
The DRY principle means “Don’t Repeat Yourself” and, like the two previous formulas, aims to reduce repetitions and redundancies within the software engineering process. This is achieved by replacing repetitions with abstractions or grouping code into functions.
If your code executes the same statement in 6 different places, it’s inefficient. Suppose you decide to change the contents of the statement, you have to update your code 6 times for only 1 change! So it’s much better to create a single function that executes the statement once and reference that function each time it’s needed. This means you only have to update the code once if you want to change something.
Now that we have got to know the three most important principles in software development, we will continue with our best practice tips.
Our top practices for software development
From our day-to-day work in software development, we are happy to give you a few best practices to help you write clear, concise code.
1. Improve code readability
Always try to write code that can be easily understood by others. In everyday programming, it is easy to write highly optimized mathematical routines or create complex libraries. But the bigger challenge is writing 200 lines of code that another software developer can understand right away.
Professionally written code is clean and modular. It is easy to read and logically divided into modules and functions. Using modules makes your code more efficient and reusable. It may initially be more time-consuming to think carefully about a modular code structure in advance, but this additional work will pay off. It will make your life so much easier when you want to update or need to change the code. In addition, the debugging process will also be much smoother.
Always remember that the sustainability of your code should always take precedence over speedy completion.
2. Make sure your code works efficiently
Make sure your code performs the function rapidly if you want to optimize it. In the world of software development, writing code quickly and correctly is pointless if the end product is slow and unstable. This is especially valid for extensive, intricate programs. Even the smallest delays caused by various programming loops can add up significantly and slow down application execution.
Reducing code memory usage is equally crucial. In terms of performance, working with lots of functions can drastically reduce the efficiency of your code.
3. Structural improvement of source texts through refactoring
Refactoring aims to improve code readability, understandability, maintainability, and extensibility without making changes to its core functionality. If you have multiple blocks of code that do similar things, it’s helpful to refactor them into a single function. By improving the structure, you can simplify your code. In order to create a quality program, it is important to spend time refactoring your code. In the long term, refactoring will significantly reduce the respective effort for error analysis and functional extensions.
4. Develop a professional programming style
A professional programming approach is not an exact science. It’s a mindset that can only be developed over time, reading and writing lots of code to expand your software engineering knowledge. You’ll find that experienced programmers don’t create unstructured blocks of code just to get things done quickly. Instead, their code is almost universally understood by other engineers, no matter how long it takes to write.
There are a number of principles that will help you develop an effective programming style. Some of them are:
- Use meaningful names for functions and variables
- Implement modularity in your code
- Avoid excessive indentation
5. Use of a version control system
Versioning refers to a software engineering framework that keeps track of all changes and synchronizes them with a master file stored on a remote server. An effective version control system is a key aspect of writing production code.
Using version control offers you the following advantages:
- In case your system crashes, all code is backed up on the server.
- The various releases of a system can be archived so that they can be accessed at any time.
- All prime software development team members can regularly sync their changes by downloading them from the server.
- Multiple developers can work independently to add, remove, or make changes to a single project without affecting the work of other members.
- If you encounter fatal errors, you can always revert to a previous, stable version of the code base that is known to work
6. Test your code
Well-thought-out test scenarios not only ensure quality standards in software engineering but also guide and shape the development process itself. Tests ensure that the code meets all necessary user requirements and that all components work together as expected.
When testing, it does not make sense to immediately test the entire system as a whole. Errors that occur are difficult to localize in the overall system. Instead, you start with individual units (modules, classes) and then gradually assemble them into ever larger subsystems. Errors that occur should be eliminated before further integration.
Unit tests are used to test small, self-contained pieces of code logic. These technical tests are designed to cover all possible conditions. To save time and money, it makes sense to automate testing as much as possible.
One last tip: always involve your users
Another important aspect to keep in mind alongside our software development best practices is to involve the end users of the application in the development process as much as possible. Developers should regularly seek user feedback to ensure code features are consistent with what they really want. The more engaged the users are, the better the software usually gets.
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