Do’s and don’t for a software programmer

Actually I had drafted below notes, several years back but somehow I forgot to post it here. So here you go..

In this post I would like to talk about some of the do’s and don’t if you are into computer programming

  •  never write a sql query inside a loop, most of the times there is better way to achieve same
  • sometimes it is efficient to do computation at sql level rather than programming logic
  • But huge sql is not aways a best solution, so splitting into multiple queries might yield better results
  •  instead of * using field list
  • instead of array count use count(*)
  • optimizing sql queries – there is always room for optimization
  • always use versioning system, even if it’s only you who is working on the project
  • writing an efficient “if” loop, most common use case should be in “if” condition
  • do not comment non-usable code, this aggregates unnecessary code and adds to confusion, so better to delete
  • understand the logic before implementing/writing the code. I feel it’s a good practice to write the complex functionality in simple english first and then build logic around it
  • follow one coding standards – so that others and you can understand your code better in future. Choose one naming conventions for modules / functions – follow same conventions through out the project
  • commenting code as much as possible to explain the functionality – not many have photographic memory so this helps
  • if possible always use a issue tracker, it help you to understand the state of the project
  • copy+paste is good in moderation, so use it wisely 🙂

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.