7 Tips to Master The Art of Clean Code

This is a term you may hear when professional software developers discuss the quality of their work. Standing on the bleachers, you might think that Code that does its job, or plainly: works is a good code. However, programmers believe that Code has to work and has to be easy to work with.

Clean Code is meant to be beautiful in a sense: elegant, optimal, maintainable, concise, and ready for new features. All this makes the Code pleasant to work with, but don’t get me wrong: it’s not easy to write Clean Code. There are a lot of rules that you have to follow. I’ll mention some of them in this guide.

What is a Clean Code? 

Well, Clean Code is basically all about writing code that is easy to understand and work. This will also reduce the cognitive load that has the variables and functions. 

In a nutshell, it is not like creating a code that is short or smart-looking, but it is an elegant Code that takes minimal effort to understand. So, now let’s take a look at some tips that help you create a good code because programming is an art as much as it is a science. 

Best Tips to Master The Art of Clean Code

I’m pretty much impressed by a famous quote, i.e., “Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. But good programmers write code that humans can understand“. So, on that note, let’s get started with our valuable tips that can master the art of clean Code: 

#1. Meaningful Names

Label your symbols clearly, in a pronounceable, searchable manner that avoids mental mapping, puns, cleverness. So, pick one word per concept and keep names short.

In addition, write elegant functions: Small, well-defined, without side effects. Make them do one thing well and one thing only. Finally, keep your Code DRY, structured, and focused. So, let’s see an example: 

const positiveElements = numbers.filter(num => num > 0);

But, in the case of booleans, you need to give the answer is True or False of the questions like: 

const isValid = false;

const hasAuthorization = true;

#2. Use Correct Comments or Minimize Them

It would help if you avoided redundant, misleading, mandated, or journal comments, but keep and use legal, informative, and clarification comments. Therefore, format your Code correctly, according to a standard agreed upon in your product and team. Your Code should be self-explanatory that no one should have to rely on the comments.

#3. Handle All Errors

Your codes should be defined as normal flow, use try-catch-finally, unchecked exceptions, and provide context when throwing. 

#4. Group Similar Functions Together

As the name already sounds, it is a cohesion concept which means the measure of the degree which is functionally correlated with each other. In a nutshell, the related functions must be grouped all together in a class. 

class IOHelper:

@staticmethod

def read_data(file_name: string) -> None:

pass

@staticmethod

def write_data(file_name: string, data: Any) -> None:

pass

In the above program, you can see the IOHelper class that only groups together functions for io operations.

#5. Self-Explanatory Functions

You know what, while writing your coding, you need to make sure about these things such as: 

1. Single Responsibility Principle (SRP) (functions should do only one particular task).
2. Your Function names must be actions words [verbs]
3. The Function body must not contain more than two levels of nesting.
4. Your function does not take more than the maximum of 3 arguments.

const validate = (data) => {

// ...

}

const sendData= (data) => {

// ...

}

const submit = (data) => {

if (!validate(data)){

return;

}

sendData(data)

}

#6. Code Formatting

The most important aspect of every Code is, i.e., code formatting. So, if you are here in this segment of our guide, then now, the one thing that you need to make is sure that the Code that you write much be in proper formatting. 

#7. Test Your Code

At least with unit tests. Preferably also use integration, component, and end-to-end tests. Use all the safeguards you can. However, becoming a good, clean programmer requires practice and a lot of work and introspection to master this craft. In other words: when reading clean Code, you can tell that it is written by someone who cares.

Also Read: Best JavaScript Projects You Can Build to Perfect Your Coding Skills (2022)

From Author’s Desk 

So, that is all of our best tips to master the art of clean Code. We hope you now understand what is clean Code and how you write clean and understandable code. However, in case you have any questions in your mind, let us know in the comment section. If you missed our new YouTube video, then please check it out.