Writing Clean Codes: An Essential Part of a Successful Software Product

Ever wondered why cleanliness and simplicity have so much importance in our lives? Well, you might have not thought of it but cleanliness in general terms means to get rid of the dirt and waste at your homes, offices, schools, universities, etc. But that’s just all about it. In a critical and complex industry like the software development industry, every single day there are new applications, networks, and projects rolling over the market. And the ones who got failed are the ones that have some built-in issues, errors or bugs, that users find inappropriate to work with. Just like the dust particles in your surroundings and if you do not avoid them, they’ll start to irritate you hard. 

The reason for telling you this is how much importance cleaning has in our lives. When it comes to developing software it is very much necessary to ensure that every process is clean and clear or not. But the most critical process in the development phase of software is the drafting of codes. Good and bug-free code will ensure a better and quality software product. Clean code will minimize the time it takes for the code reviewers ( in terms of either outsourced code review services or in-house reviewers) to spend on viewing and grasping the code. Messy code has incredible capabilities that can cause delays in the work and tasks of developers. The messier the code, the more time the reviewer needs to understand it and provide effective reviews to the coder. Moreover, if the code is too messy, the developer may decide to start from the beginning and stop. 

This issue of ensuring clean codes must be taken into account by the software development organizations and for this purpose, some tips will help a lot. Let us grab your attention to some of the helpful tips in this regard;

Code Readability Must be Ensured

Indeed, the code we write will be interpreted by the machine. However, this does not mean that we should ignore its readability and understandability. There is always another person who can use our code or just use it. Even if we make our code inaccessible to others, we may want to reuse it in the future. Therefore, it is in our own interest to write code in an easy-to-read way.

The most convenient way is to use white spaces. Instead, we can use indentation, line breaks, and blank lines to make our code structure more readable. When we decide to adopt this approach, the readability and understandability of our code will be greatly improved. Then, just looking at our code is enough to understand it.

Use Purposeful Names for Variables, Functions, and Methods

What does purposeful mean? A meaningful name is a name that is descriptive enough that other people (not just us) will be able to understand the purpose of the variable, function, or method. In simple and easy words, the name itself should suggest the purpose or content of the variable, function, or method.

Let Every Function or Method Perform Just One Task

If you and your organization are facing a challenge in finding descriptive names for functions and methods or need to write extensive descriptions so that others can use them, consider implementing this approach. Let each function or method perform only one task. If your functions and methods seem to work like a Swiss army knife, you should also implement this approach. Believe me, this versatility is not an advantage. This is a shortcoming and may backfire at any time.

Frequent Code Reviews

Writing clean codes is not just enough for a better software product. Instead, the major task of you as a software development organization is to maintain and sustain the code cleanliness. When the teachers in schools assign something to students like to write on a specific topic, they ask them to review it twice before submitting it. Why do they do that? Because to develop a sense of understanding a child’s own mistakes and to correct them. Similarly, when you write codes, code review services play a significant role in order to ensure the quality of codes while making it free of bugs and errors. 

Conclusion

Since half of your software development process depends upon the well-written set of codes, it is, therefore, necessary for you to ensure that whether the code your developers have written is clean and clear. Code review services support your efforts to ensure better code quality. Hence, a better and improved quality software product.