Coding Standards: The Foundation of Quality Software
26 Sep 2024
The Importance of Coding Standards
When we think about coding standards in the world of software engineering, we often envision tedious rules about brace placement and indentation. But, underneath all of that, coding standards help us to improve the quality of our code, consolidate teamwork, and ease learning. In this essay, I will discuss the benefits of coding standards, my first experience with ESLint in Visual Studio Code, and how it has enhanced my grasp of coding best practices.
The Case for Coding Standards
When I first started implementing coding standards into my code, I thought that the correct usage of tabs or spaces wasn’t all that important. However, I noticed that following these rules will benefit me in the long run. It creates a common language among developers. When everyone follows the same rules, the code becomes a lot easier to read and maintain. This aspect is really crucial when it comes to group projects, as everyone will be working with the same code. If coding standards are implemented, your code will be of its highest quality, and it will create a positive coding environment.
My Personal Experience
Implementing ESLint with VSCode, I thought that it was a bit overwhelming when I first ran it. There were a bunch of errors when I ran it with my code for the first time. It felt like I was bombarded with a bunch of “don’ts” that messed with the flow of my code. But, as I was getting familiar with it while fixing up the errors, it was overall worth it. It made my code a lot easier to look at, and it made the formatting perfect.
Using ESLint, the errors that were brought up about my code weren’t just random, but they were things that I should fix that’d be beneficial to make my code a lot better. When I ran it for the first time, it said that I had some unused variables. Getting rid of those unused variables would make my code more efficient. It also suggested I use certain variables over the ones I chose to use. These rules would effectively improve my coding skills overall. When you think of coding, you would want to use your own style of coding. But ESLint does not allow you to do that. It follows a standard set of rules to make your code easier to read. Following those sets of rules often leads to something greater at the end. It gives me the satisfaction that I can accomplish something.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you should always follow the coding standards! Even though it is sometimes troublesome, it helps me a lot in the long run when I need to code something more complex. I feel like it is an essential aspect of software engineering. As a developer myself, I feel like following the coding standard rules can definitely help me create code that is not only functional but also easy to read and manage.