If you're after tried and true rules to program by, you can't got passed these maxims:- from <a class="user" href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch01s06.html">http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch01s06.html</a> - visit the link for further information. 1. Rule of Modularity: Write simple parts connected by clean interfaces. 2. Rule of Clarity: Clarity is better than cleverness. 3. Rule of Composition: Design programs to be connected to other programs. 4. Rule of Separation: Separate policy from mechanism; separate interfaces from engines. 5. Rule of Simplicity: Design for simplicity; add complexity only where you must. 6. Rule of Parsimony: Write a big program only when it is clear by demonstration that nothing else will do. 7. Rule of Transparency: Design for visibility to make inspection and debugging easier. 8. Rule of Robustness: Robustness is the child of transparency and simplicity. 9. Rule of Representation: Fold knowledge into data so program logic can be stupid and robust. 10. Rule of Least Surprise: In interface design, always do the least surprising thing. 11. Rule of Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it should say nothing. 12. Rule of Repair: When you must fail, fail noisily and as soon as possible. 13. Rule of Economy: Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time. 14. Rule of Generation: Avoid hand-hacking; write programs to write programs when you can. 15. Rule of Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it. 16. Rule of Diversity: Distrust all claims for “one true way”. 17. Rule of Extensibility: Design for the future, because it will be here sooner than you think.These were tattooed into our souls at university - and we are better for it.
Decent read but entirely common sense amoung moderate to experienced programmers. Don't use "a" and "b" as variable names, comment items that need clarification and so you can remember why you did something later.
pjh3000Feb 3, 2006
In college they taught us that "a good programmer is a lazy programmer". It's always stuck with me. That's why I don't comment my code. :)
thussFeb 3, 2006
No digg... how can you have the top development hints and not include test driven development!
jeffreymFeb 3, 2006
I always add comments. But I write comments that have nothing to do with the code.<a class="user" href="http://celestial-reasoning.blogspot.com/">http://celestial-reasoning.blogspot.com/</a>
battlemanFeb 6, 2006
If you're after tried and true rules to program by, you can't got passed these maxims:- from <a class="user" href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch01s06.html">http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch01s06.html</a> - visit the link for further information. 1. Rule of Modularity: Write simple parts connected by clean interfaces. 2. Rule of Clarity: Clarity is better than cleverness. 3. Rule of Composition: Design programs to be connected to other programs. 4. Rule of Separation: Separate policy from mechanism; separate interfaces from engines. 5. Rule of Simplicity: Design for simplicity; add complexity only where you must. 6. Rule of Parsimony: Write a big program only when it is clear by demonstration that nothing else will do. 7. Rule of Transparency: Design for visibility to make inspection and debugging easier. 8. Rule of Robustness: Robustness is the child of transparency and simplicity. 9. Rule of Representation: Fold knowledge into data so program logic can be stupid and robust. 10. Rule of Least Surprise: In interface design, always do the least surprising thing. 11. Rule of Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it should say nothing. 12. Rule of Repair: When you must fail, fail noisily and as soon as possible. 13. Rule of Economy: Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time. 14. Rule of Generation: Avoid hand-hacking; write programs to write programs when you can. 15. Rule of Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it. 16. Rule of Diversity: Distrust all claims for “one true way”. 17. Rule of Extensibility: Design for the future, because it will be here sooner than you think.These were tattooed into our souls at university - and we are better for it.
alectecFeb 7, 2006
Decent read but entirely common sense amoung moderate to experienced programmers. Don't use "a" and "b" as variable names, comment items that need clarification and so you can remember why you did something later.
justsomeguy987Feb 8, 2006
For a complete "how to program" reference, I recommend "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell.