Best Coding Practices

Best coding practices are a set of informal rules that the software development community has learned over time which can help improve the quality of software.

Many computer programs remain in use for far longer than the original authors ever envisaged (sometimes 40 years or more), so any rules need to facilitate both initial development and subsequent maintenance and enhancement by people other than the original authors.

In Ninety-ninety rule, Tom Cargill is credited with this explanation as to why programming projects often run late: "The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time." Any guidance which can redress this lack of foresight is worth considering.

The size of a project or program has a significant effect on error rates, programmer productivity, and the amount of management needed.

As listed below, there are many attributes associated with good software. Some of these can be mutually contradictory (e.g. very fast versus full error checking), and different customers and participants may have different priorities. Weinberg provides an example of how different goals can have a dramatic effect on both effort required and efficiency. Furthermore, he notes that programmers will generally aim to achieve any explicit goals which may be set, probably at the expense of any other quality attributes.

Sommerville has identified four generalised attributes which are not concerned with what a program does, but how well the program does it:

Weinberg has identified four targets which a good program should meet:

Hoare has identified seventeen objectives related to software quality, including:

Before coding starts, it is important to ensure that all necessary prerequisites have been completed (or have at least progressed far enough to provide a solid foundation for coding). If the various prerequisites are not satisfied then the software is likely to be unsatisfactory, even if it is completed.

From Meek & Heath: "What happens before one gets to the coding stage is often of crucial importance to the success of the project."

The prerequisites outlined below cover such matters as:

For small simple projects involving only one person, it may be feasible to combine architecture with design and adopt a very simple life cycle.

A software development methodology is a framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the life cycle of a software product. Common methodologies include waterfall, prototyping, iterative and incremental development, spiral development, agile software development, rapid application development, and extreme programming.

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