Tips for Writing Clean Functional Code

Tips for Writing Clean Functional Code

As a result, software can be maintained, read, and written in an easy-to-read, easy-to-write manner. It is essential for software developers to be able to write clean code. When an application performs as expected, you may be tempted to consider your work completed. Our goal isn’t just to write code that can be consumed by computers.

Creating clean codes helps you realize that your audience isn’t just a computer, but a real person as well! As we review clean code’s importance and explore how we can do so in practice, let’s look at some tips and tricks.

What is clean code?

The purpose of clean code is to make it easy to understand, maintain, and read. Writing clean code means considering people who might read and interpret it in the future. So that others can eventually make changes to your code, you’re helping them understand its purpose.

Having highly modular code makes it easier to read and test, which leads to clean source code. The foundation of any house is clean code if you think of them as building practices. When it comes to refactoring and testing code, implementing clean code principles pays off well.

Tips on writing clean code

Then we will learn a few tips to help us write clean code, now that we have discussed some of the benefits of doing so. Following are some practices that clean code adheres to. Cleaner, readable, better-comprehensible, and simpler code is the result of these practices. Each of these practices does not have to be implemented. Positive results can be achieved by implementing and following just a few of these practices.

1. Destruct your objects

It is possible to assign specific fields from an object to a variable instantly using object destructuring. By doing this, we reduce the number of lines of code we need to write to extract the object properties, and it simplifies the code in general.

In situations such as saving explicit variable declarations through object destructuring can be very advantageous

  • Making use of more than one property from an object.
  • Repeatedly utilizing the same property.
  • An object with a deeply nested property.

2. Create code that people can understand

Machines will indeed interpret the code we write. Its readability and comprehensibility should not be neglected, however. Our code may be accessed by another human or worked with by another human. We may want to get back to our code even if we make it inaccessible to others. To make our code easy to read and understand, we should write it in a readable way. In what way?

Use whitespace if you want the easiest method. The minification of the code before shipping is okay. Coding that looks like a minified is not always necessary. You can make your code more readable by indenting, breaking lines, and removing blank lines. Your code will likely become more readable and comprehensible when you adopt this practice. Your code can be understood with a single glance.

3. Name things descriptively

Ensure that variables and functions are named as descriptively as possible. Let’s say that you want to reference a character and his last name. In such a case, you might consider using a variable called “name physician” and “lastNamePhysician” instead of “name.” However, where would you use “n?”? The reason is that anyone can understand what the variable’s value is with that syntax. How about functions? Generally, functions are named after verbs.

4. Maintain a consistent vocabulary

Consistently name your files. You should maintain a consistent naming convention so that other developers do not get confused while working on your code. In this sense, variable names, files, functions, and even directory structures can be regarded as naming conventions.

5. Make short functions that perform a single task

A function that only does one thing is easier to understand, read, and maintain. In many cases, it is easier to diagnose a bug when it occurs in short functions. It will also be easier to reuse code.

6. Don’t write unnecessary comments

Comments are commonly used by developers to specify a line’s purpose. Comments in your code can be quite useful in explaining what the code does, but they also require a lot of maintenance. Code moves around during development, but if the comment remains in the same location, it can cause a lot of problems. Because of useless comments, developers can become confused and distracted. The main point is that you shouldn’t ignore comments completely; sometimes you need to use them, for instance, when working with third-party APIs where you need to explain some behavior, for example. However, don’t use comments in places where they are unnecessary.

7. Make things more efficient by automating

The code might be a bit technical, but it won’t be less readable because it’s written in a somewhat technical manner. There is a greater chance of error when multiple lines of duplicate code are present. Programmers are great at expressing complex commands in a neat, reusable, and clever manner.

8. Make the right architectural choice

Creating your projects can be done using many paradigms and architectures. Rather than selecting the best one, this tip is about selecting the one that’s right for you. The best is not the only option. In web development, for instance, the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern is popular since it simplifies the process of organizing and maintaining your code.

As with the Entity-Component-System (ECS) pattern in game development, the Entity-Component-System pattern helps to modularize game data and logic to simplify upkeep and maintainability, as well as make code more readable.

9. Maintain consistency

Coding should be consistent. It shouldn’t be possible for people to look at code bases and determine who wrote each line of code without blame being placed on Git! Each statement in JavaScript should end with a semicolon. Consistently use ”instead of’! The first step is to set up a style guide and a linter to ensure these standards are followed. When you’re writing code, having those set up saves you time and ensures there is some consistency and standardization.

10. Functionality is the key

You can clutter your code with mile-long function definitions. A good place to start is to see what’s happening. Functions that perform more than their name implies may need to be split out into their own functions.

Conclusion

Developing clean code improves software quality, increases code maintainability, and eliminates technical debt. You will benefit a lot from following clean code conventions in the long run if you follow them. Clean code conventions ensure that every person working on the code understands everything on their own, regardless of who is also working on it. Individuals and teams both need clean code.