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Improving Code Readability

Jaime
June 10, 2012

Improving Code Readability

Simple presentation on improving code readability

Jaime

June 10, 2012
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Transcript

  1. Why Should We Care • We Spent Most Of The

    Time on Maintenance • Written Once, Read Tens of Times • Messy Code Slows Us Down
  2. How to Achieve Readability • Golden Rule • Naming •

    Functions • Classes • Comments • Error Handling • [Code Smells and Heuristics]
  3. Use Intention Revealing Names • Names should reveal intent int

    d; int elapsedTimeInDays; int daysSinceCreation; int daysSinceModification;
  4. Avoid Disinformation int a = l; if ( O ==

    l ) a = O1; else l = 01; WTF?
  5. Avoid Encodings // pointer to zero-terminated string // array of

    floating-point values // array of unsigned long (systems) pszOwner; rgfpBalances; aulColors; Look For This in Our SourceCode
  6. Pick One Word Per Concept and Don’t Pun One Word

    = One Abstract Concept Fetch, Retrieve, Get Add, Insert, Append
  7. Meaningful Naming I • Use Intention-Revealing Names • Avoid Disinformation

    • Avoid Encodings • Pick One Word Per Concept and Don’t Pun
  8. Use Nouns For Classes and Verbs For Methods • User,

    Customer, Account • Login(), Whine(), Withdraw() • Use IsXXX or HasXXX for predicates if (jaime.HasDonuts()) people.Applaud();
  9. Use Solution Domain Names • Use Computer Science lingo –

    Algorithms – Data Structures – Design Patterns This is Sparta a Factory!!
  10. Use Problem Domain Names • Page, BlogPost, Category, Tag •

    Customer, Order, Account • Warrior, Warlock, Barbarian, Sorceress
  11. Add Meaningful Context sendMail(string addrStreet, string addrCity, string addrCountry); sendMail(Address

    address); public class Address { public string Street {get;set;} public string City {get;set;} public string County {get;set;} }
  12. Meaningful Naming II • Use Nouns for Classes • Use

    Verbs for Methods • Use Solution and Problem Domain Names • Add Meaningful Context
  13. Error Handling • Prefer Exceptions to Returning Error Codes •

    Extract Try/Catch blocks – Error Handling is One Thing
  14. Exercise 01 • Mine Sweeper game. • Game board =

    list of cells (theList) • Each cell simple array (int[]) • cell[0] is the status value of a cell • A status value of 4 means “flagged.” • Another Requirement? Think
  15. References • Clean Code http://amzn.to/clean-code • The Art Of Readable

    Code http://amzn.to/art-of-readable-code • Refactoring: Improving The Design Of Existing Code http://amzn.to/refactoring-martin-fowler • Coding Horror: Code Smells http://bit.ly/coding-horror-code-smells
  16. Heuristics on Names • Choose Descriptive Names • Choose Names

    at the Appropriate Level of Abstraction • Use Standard Nomenclature Where Possible • Use Unambiguous Names • Use Long Names for Long Scopes • Avoid Encodings • Names Should Describe Side-Effects
  17. Smells on Comments • Inappropriate Information (i.e. Change history log)

    • Commented-Out Code • Comments that are: – Obsolete – Redundant – Poorly written
  18. Smells on Functions • Too Many Arguments • Output Arguments

    [they are evil] • Flag Arguments (SRP++) • Dead Functions
  19. General Heuristics • Vertical Separation • Use Explanatory Variables •

    Function Names Should Say What they Do • Follow Standard Conventions • Replace Magic Numbers With Named Constants • Don’t be Arbitrary
  20. General Smells • Duplication • Base Classes Depending on Their

    Derivatives • Too Much Information • Dead Code • Misplaced Responsibility