What is a Good Coding Style in Software Engineering

Namaste UI (Author)
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Summary:

For successful software development, there is a need for well-designed coding. It provides seamless functioning of software products. Besides, it helps the business world to grow in the market. However, creating good code is not as easy as it seems. It requires continuous effort from the development team to ensure the code meets the standard. Besides, they must follow the best practices for coding since it can help build quality software. So, in this blog, we will explain more about the best coding standards and styles. We will also walk you through the best practices and guidelines for coding. You can read on to get more insights on coding. 

Every programmer has a programming style of their own. They make their standards and guidelines based on the software they develop and the organization they work for. Besides, a good programming style helps the programming team to read and understand the code. It makes the program more clear and bug-free. So, it is essential to keep a good coding style in software engineering to build robust software products. 

So, where do you think programmers get their programming style? It is simple. Either from the coding standards set by the organization they work for or it is based on their preferences. Other questions may also arise, such as ‘Why do we need a programming style?’ or ‘What are coding standards?’. You can scroll down for more.

In this blog, we will help you understand the following:

  • What is Coding Style?
  • What is the purpose of having Code standards?
  • What are the code standards?
  • Coding Best Practices in Software Development
  • Advantages of coding guidelines

What is Coding Style?

As mentioned earlier, a good coding style in software engineering makes the code easy to read and understand for the programmers and others. Therefore, we can define it as a technique used to write source code for software programs. In other words, it is how your code looks like. Besides, the coding style is the art of programming that makes a complex task into readable code. It helps to simplify the software maintenance as well. 

Formatting your code into a simple and readable form can help save you time and resources. It guides you in identifying and fixing bugs early in the development stage. It makes your source code clear and neat, reducing the risks of mistakes in software development. As a result, it helps you to keep a good coding style in software engineering. So, now let us break down the purpose of coding standards in the following portion.

What is the Purpose of Having Coding Standards?

Coding Standards are rules and guidelines for building efficient and functional code to minimize bugs and errors. It helps to determine the programmer’s coding style and methods. Given below are the purpose of the coding standards:

  • Uniform Appearance: The main purpose of coding standards is to design code in a consistent format written by different programmers. Besides, it lowers code complexity. Thus, it helps to build high-performing software. 
  • Improves Readability: Coding standards ensure the code is easy to read and work through. It helps to enhance the code quality by making it consistent and easier to maintain. 
  • Avoid Errors: When you keep your code clean and neat, it helps the developers to identify errors and bugs. Thus, it helps the developers to save time and apply proven solutions. 
  • Ensure Compatability: By following the coding standards, developers can write code that is compatible with different browsers, OS, and other platforms. 
  • Promote Best Practices: It helps to boost best practices for programming. As a result, it increases the coding efficiency and a good coding style in software engineering.

Since we discussed the purpose of coding standards, now let us cover the coding standards in software engineering. 

What are the Coding Standards in Software Engineering?

  • Global Variables: A global variable is a variable type defined outside the function of the code. In other words, you can create a variable outside the function and use this variable inside the code. Besides, it holds a global value throughout the program’s lifetime. Use long descriptive names for global variables to keep a good coding style in software engineering. 
  • Standard Headers: The header of modules must have a standard format. The standard form must contain the name of the modules, their date, author, functions, and modification history. 
  • Naming: Naming each variable is important. It includes local, global, constants and functions. The names should be understandable for anyone. As a result, it helps them to know the reason for using it. Besides, it must be simple, clear and meaningful. 
  • Indentation: Indentation means white space at the beginning of a program line. It increases the readability of the code. Therefore, each block must have an indent at its start and end. 
  • Documentation: Documents are comment lines placed on top of the program. It is mostly based on the company’s requirements. The comments in these documents must be easy to understand. As a result, it will give a good coding style in software engineering. 
  • Vertical Alignment: Another coding standard is aligning the variables vertically, that is, within the same column. It will help keep the code uniform and neat. 

What are the Best Practices for Coding?

You will see many coding best practices in software development. It helps the developers to improve their coding style and methods. Given below are the best practices for coding:

  • Select coding standards for your industry: Know your industry before writing the code. Each industry has diverse coding standards and style guides. 
  • Focus on code readability: Ensure your code is readable and understandable. A few ways to increase the readability of the code are to write a few lines, write appropriate names, use indentation and avoid long lines. 
  • Standardize the Header: Use headers for modules in a singular format. Each header should have the name, date, author, summary, functions and modification history. 
  • Leave Comments: For a good coding style in software engineering, it is essential to leave readable comments that describe the code functions. Besides, it should be appropriate and logical. 
  • Prioritize coding rules: Categorize coding rules on different matrices to evaluate the code quality and find bugs. 
  • Standardize Issues: It is essential to formalize code problems to minimize damage in program execution. For example, you can activate auto recovery or use real-time log analysis to catch issues. 
  • Educate your Team: Give your team support materials to understand the coding standards. It will help them know the advantage of using these guidelines. As a result, they will follow the coding standards. 

What are the advantages of coding guidelines?

As mentioned above, the purpose of the coding itself is its advantages. The following are the benefits of  coding guidelines in software engineering:

  • Increase efficiency: Developers spent more time assessing the code quality and fixing errors. However, when they follow coding standards, it helps them find bugs early and avoid failures. Thus, it increases the efficiency of coding. 
  • Detect bugs: Coding standards help reduce the complexity of your coding. As a result, you can identify bugs and reduce errors in the program. It will ensure a good coding style in software engineering. 
  • Reduce costs: When you use coding standards, you can create clean and error-free codes. As a result, you can reuse the code whenever required. Reusing the code will help reduce operational costs and time. 
  • Improve Maintenance: One of the advantages of following coding standards in software engineering is making the code consistent and uniform. It will help you maintain the code since it becomes easy to understand and modify. 

Conclusion

As we conclude, we can agree that coding standards are essential for software development. They form the basic unit of programming. It is what keeps the functionality and appearance of the software intact. Therefore, every developer must ensure a good coding style in software engineering. It helps the developers to write code that is easy to read and understand. So, in this blog, we believe you have gained insights regarding the best coding practices and guidelines. 

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