Coding best practices

Here is some of the most important coding principles you should know as a developer:

  • DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) - Avoid duplication in your code. Use functions and variables to consolidate repetitive logic.

  • KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) - Don't over-engineer simple solutions. Simple code is easier to maintain and less bug-prone.

  • Loose Coupling - Minimize dependencies between code components. Highly coupled code is brittle and difficult to maintain.

  • High Cohesion - Ensure that each component/function has a clear purpose and focuses on one concern.

  • Single Responsibility Principle - A function/class should do one thing and do it well. Avoid God objects that do everything.

  • Refactor Mercilessly - Continually improving the design, structure, and simplicity of your code.

  • Premature Optimization - Avoid over-optimizing early. Only optimize if you have proven there is an actual need to through metrics and profiling.

  • Separation of Concerns - Keep business logic separate from UI logic, network/API logic, persistence logic, etc.

  • Error Handling - Ensure you have robust error handling for any input, network calls, user access, etc. Anticipate edge cases.

  • Naming Conventions - Adhere to common styles and conventions for consistency and maintenance.

  • Unit Testing - Make testing a first-class citizen of your development process, or at least use it for mission-critical parts of your application.

  • YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It) - Avoid writing code and features before they are actually needed and required by your application.

Hopefully this gave you some insight. Most of them can be learned by experience, it helps when you have actually gone the opposite route and suffered from the consequences of that hehe :)