Best Practices for Maintaining a Clean, High-Quality Codebase
Have you ever thought wouldn’t it be boring if a speaker uses very difficult words in the speech? Of course, it will be!
However, the work of the software developers is quite related to the work of the speakers as like speakers developers are always responsible for writing clean code that is easily understandable, readable, and maintainable.
Martin Fowler a famous software engineer from the UK pointed out that “ Anybody can write a code that a computer can understand. Good programmers are the ones that write code that humans can understand.” So, according to his words, a software developer must know how to write clean code that is easy to read, functional, and follow all the best practices.
If you also want to become a famous software engineer like Martin, this blog can be beneficial for you. Keep reading to learn best practices on how to write a clean and quality codebase.
Also, if you are planning to build a mobile application with a clean codebase, you can partner with a leading mobile app development company like DianApps. Developers follow all these practices to reduce bugs or errors in the application.
Here, Tips for Maximum Coding Efficiency in React Native.
What is a Clean Codebase?
Every code written by a developer functions on the software, but a clean code is the one that is easy to understand, maintain, and read. Clean Code was popularized in the market by Rober Cecil Martin who wrote a famous book “Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship” in 2008.
Clean Code is a code that doesn’t contain unnecessary redundancy, confusion, and complexity. To write clean code developers have to follow certain rules and practices that make it consistent. This practice also allows multiple developers to work on the same project without facing any complexities.
DianApps is the best platform that can help you build clean and high-quality code with complete efficiency.
What are the Benefits of a Clean Codebase?
Clean Code is beneficial for both the developers and for the client, as it enhances the readability and understandability of the code. In this section, you will learn about the importance of a clean code:
Enhances Team Collaboration
Collaboration with the team is enhanced and encouraged if the code is clean. Developers must ensure to write clean code for software development, so other team members can efficiently work on your project without wasting time on understanding. Following codebase standards allows different people to work on the same project simultaneously without affecting the quality of others’ work.
Readability
Another benefit of clean code is readability, as it reduces the understanding time of the code if another person approaches your work. It also leads to a reduction in the development time as readable code will allow testers to easily identify the bugs in the code.
Maintainability
Every application owner wants to scale up their business in the future based on user demand. So, for this clean code is beneficial as it allows developers to easily extend and maintain the application. This approach is highly beneficial in software development, as they are constantly evolving and scaled.
Reduces Debugging
Clean Code used by a developer, is formed with a high level of simplicity and clarity and allows users and testers to easily understand specific sections of the codebase. Certain practices like meaningful variable names, well-defined functions, and clear structure make it easy for developers to quickly identify the bugs and resolve them.
Enhances Quality and the readability of the Code
The priority of the clean code is to write code based on the practices, principles, and coding standards to generate well-structured code. This practice reduces the risk of errors in the code, providing higher-quality software solutions to the customers.
Here you must have understood the importance of a clean code, now let’s get into learning how maintaining a high codebase can be challenging for certain issues. These benefits are beneficial in Android app development, look at its trends.
Common Issues Leading to a High Codebase Maintenance
There are various issues due to which maintaining a high codebase has become a challenging task. This issue leads to increased complexity, errors, and higher costs. Let’s understand about the primary factors contributing to high codebase maintenance.
Multiple Integration and Their Impact
Integration Overload: There are high chance that the codebase will become complicated if you integrate multiple third-party services or libraries. As every integration needs a unique heading, leading to an increase in complexity.
Dependency Management: Updation and management of the software becomes more difficult due to an increase in dependencies, it also leads to an increase in bugs and conflicts. To avoid these issues, developers need to improve the quality of the code and transform it into a clean code by implementing all the practices.
Increased Testing Requirements: Additional plugin integration into software enhances the need for testing, ensuring that it works properly with the rest of the codebase. It becomes more time-consuming and effort-taking.
Frequent Updates and Compliance Changes
Constant Change: Regular software updates are often needed to stay up to date with security measures, new technologies, and compliance requirements. This development requires constant maintenance and creates additional problems.
Technical Debt: If emergency repairs cause long-term maintenance issues, they can incur technical costs. By increasing productivity, readability, and maintenance, quality code can have a significant impact on updates and compliance change management.
Resource Allocation: More time and resources are required to provide regular updates, making developers divert their concentration from development to other activities.
Trouble Shooting Efforts, Debugging, and Technical Debt
Complex Code: Debugging becomes time-consuming, as slowly codebase is becoming more complex and difficult to understand.
Legacy Code: It is difficult to improve the code that is written with the traditional practices and lacks documentation.
Error Tracking: Manual code review without any tools and practices becomes very difficult and time-consuming for the developers. Moreover, it lacks efficiency.
Best Practices for Maintaining a Clean and High-Quality Codebase
1. Give Meaningful Variable and Function Names
Ensure to assign unique names to all classes, functions, other identifiers, and variables. Make sure the name selected by you is relevant and is related to its entity, this practice is useful for making code more understandable. Do not give abbreviation names to the classes and functions, provide meaningful names.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
# Bad variable name x = 5 # Good variable name total_score = 5 |
2. Keep Methods and Functions Short
When you select methods and functions, ensure that they are short and restricted to a single task. Based on the statement the Single responsibility principle (SRP), says that functions can be one thing, but they should do it well without any bugs. If you keep the function short it will enhance your capabilities to test, maintain, and understand. Moreover, if your code has a complex function try to break it into more smaller and manageable functions.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 |
// Long and complex function function processUserData(user) { // Many lines of code... } // Refactored into smaller functions function validateUserInput(userInput) { // Validation logic... } function saveUserToDatabase(user) { // Database operation... } |
3. Documentation and Comments
When using comments, make sure they have a purpose. The code should be self-explanatory whenever possible. README files and inline comments are examples of documents that help other developers understand the functionality and the purpose of your project. Write complex algorithms, complex choices, and open APIs.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 |
# Bad comment x = x + 1 # Increment x # Good comment # Calculate the total score by incrementing x total_score = x + 1 |
4. Consisting Formatting and Indentation
From the start of the project development, stick to one style and formatting. This method makes the code look more organized and clean. Developers have to follow the coding standards set by some programming language like for python it is PEP8 and for Javascript it is eslint. Consistency is also applicable for spacing, code structure, and naming convention.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 |
// Inconsistent formatting if(condition){ doSomething(); } else { doSomethingElse(); } // Consistent formatting if (condition) { doSomething(); } else { doSomethingElse(); } |
5. Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) Principle
Don’t repeat the code. Repeated codes raise the possibility of inconsistencies and are more difficult to maintain. To encourage code reuse, break down common activities into tasks, procedures, or classes. There is only one area you will need to adjust.
Let’s say you’ve created a JavaScript program that displays the prices of all items in a shopping basket. First, you have two separate tasks to price each product: one is to price a laptop, and the other is to price a book The basic codes are as follows.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 |
function calculateBookPrice(quantity, price) { return quantity * price; } function calculateLaptopPrice(quantity, price) { return quantity * price; } |
Because they repeat the logic used to derive total values for many different objects, these functions work but violate the DRY principle. This logic will be repeated if you have many things to calculate. To comply with the DRY principle and increase code maintainability, you can reconfigure the code in the following ways:
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
function calculateItemPrice(quantity, price) { return quantity * price; } const bookQuantity = 3; const bookPrice = 25; const laptopQuantity = 2; const laptopPrice = 800; const bookTotalPrice = calculateItemPrice(bookQuantity, bookPrice); const laptopTotalPrice = calculateItemPrice(laptopQuantity, laptopPrice); |
In this reconfigured code, you can see that for calculating the prices of different products we have used a single function that is ”calculateItemPrice”. Through this function, you can calculate the price by just providing the quantities and the price of the product. This code adheres to the DRY principle as it doesn’t duplicate the logic for calculations.
Using the correct quantity and price, you can now quickly find the total cost of any book, computer, or other item by doing calculateItemPrice. This approach reduces the potential for errors caused by duplicate code while encouraging code reuse, readability, and maintenance.
6. Use Meaningful Whitespace
While writing a code ensure to provide proper spaces and breaks to enhance the readability and appearance of the code. To s
eparate the logical section of your code you can use white spaces. If your code is properly formatted it becomes easier to reduce the cognitive load on readers, and scan.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 |
// Poor use of whitespace const sum=function(a,b){return a+b;} // Improved use of whitespace const sum = function (a, b) { return a + b; } |
7. Error Handling
While developing a code for software, ensure to handle errors carefully. To follow this practice you can use error-handling mechanisms or try to catch blocks in your code. This practice reduces the chances of software crashes and provides valuable information related to debugging. Don’t ignore the errors once accessed always log them with a proper response.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 |
// Inadequate error handling try { result = divide(x, y); } catch (error) { console.error("An error occurred"); } // Proper error handling try { result = divide(x, y); } catch (error) { if (error instanceof ZeroDivisionError) { console.error("Division by zero error:", error.message); } else if (error instanceof ValueError) { console.error("Invalid input:", error.message); } else { console.error("An unexpected error occurred:", error.message); } } |
8. Testing
To verify if your errors are resolved write unit tests. Because it forces you to think ahead about edge cases and intended behavior, test-driven development (TDD) can help you write cleaner code. Well-tested codes are easier to reproduce and more reliable.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 |
// Example using JavaScript and the Jest testing framework test('addition works correctly', () => { expect(add(2, 3)).toBe(5); expect(add(-1, 1)).toBe(0); expect(add(0, 0)).toBe(0); }); |
9. Refactoring
Always refactor your code. Make necessary changes to your code as requirements change and your understanding of the problem area expands. As a project evolves, refactoring helps maintain clean code. Don’t be afraid to go back and make improvements to existing code when needed.
Imagine you have a function that uses a fixed discount percentage to price all items in a shopping cart:
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 |
function calculateTotalPrice(cartItems) { let totalPrice = 0; for (const item of cartItems) { totalPrice += item.price; } return totalPrice - (totalPrice * 0.1); // Apply a 10% discount } |
This service determines all costs in advance and applies a fixed discount rate of 10%. However, as the project progresses, you realize that variable discounts need to be supported. You can add a discount parameter to the code to create the new settings and increase its conversion:
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 |
function calculateTotalPrice(cartItems, discountPercentage) { if (discountPercentage < 0 || discountPercentage > 100) { throw new Error("Discount percentage must be between 0 and 100."); } let totalPrice = 0; for (const item of cartItems) { totalPrice += item.price; } const discountAmount = (totalPrice * discountPercentage) / 100; return totalPrice - discountAmount; } |
In this above-given refactored code we have added certain aspects:
- The calculateTotalPrice function now has a discountPercentage option that allows you to set a discount % when calling the function.
- To ensure that the discountPercentage argument is in the correct range (0 to 100%), we perform validations. If it’s out of range, we throw an error.
- The current implementation is flexible and works for changing requirements because the discount calculation is now based on the given discountPercentage.
Flexibility and maintainability of the code are improved after the code is refactored in the above-given way. Without writing a whole code again you can now easily adapt this function, to process different discounts into the cart. This shows how important it is to regularly refactor your code as your project develops and your needs change.
10. Version Control
Use version control systems like Git to track code changes. This allows you to work more closely with other team members, revisit previous iterations as needed, and keep a clear record of your project’s progress. Git simplifies collaboration and code cleanup by providing tools for code analysis, compilation, and integration.
Final Words
If you are a developer and want to excel in your domain, ensure to write clean and maintainable code. This is the most crucial aspect if you want to become a good developer.
A clean code can be written by following a certain set of rules and practices. Writing clean code is not just related to following all the rules it is more about commitment to provide high-quality code to the clients.
Clean Code practices reduce the chances of bugs in the software, additionally, they ensure to improve maintainability, efficiency, and readability. Clean code allows other developers to easily collaborate with the team and saves time for the developers in the long run.
Finally, you must have understood the importance of investing your time in writing clean code. For this reason, you can also hire developers from a custom software development company, to design a clean code for your software.
0
