Coding Standards – A Personal Approach

Most of us were just getting started on our career when we were introduced to coding standards.  These are common in the industry and more so where there are entry-level developers.  Although the purpose of coding standards is often related to easing team development, there are far more benefits as well.  Thus, you should create these for your improvement as well.

Coding Standards As A Productivity Tool

The first benefit you will get from a standard approach is a template for writing code.  We spend more time thinking about naming and structure than we realize.  This cost dwindles away as we gain experience because we do tend to have standards we adopt.  This occurs even when we do not have any documented standards.

In fact, your coding standards are essentially your coding style.  These are important as they are how you get into a coding rhythm or “the zone.”  The rules and guidelines reduce the overhead incurred by making little decisions (format, names, spacing, etc.) and help us focus on getting work done.

Looking Professional

You either have or will be asked to share some of your coding examples.  This is just too common as a way to assess developers outside of their knowledge of syntax.  One of the things that will jump out at a reviewer is whether there are standards followed in your code.  When your source looks like it was written by a small army instead of an individual it is seen as “spaghetti” or low quality.  Note, this impression has nothing to do with actual functionality and quality.  However, it does set a negative tone for the reviewer.

Helping Your Research and Debugging

When you have standards you stick with then it will be far easier to read and review your code.  This advantage applies to you as much as it does others.  Thus, you will be glad of your consistent approach when tracking down a nasty bug or trying to go back over code you wrote six months ago.  Good structure and standards help you navigate through the source quickly and with fewer bad words muttered under your breath.  In short, it can turn a bad experience into one that is surprisingly easy.