Programming can be a lot of fun. You can be the captain of your own ship, and you want to run a tight ship. To run a tight ship, you need to adhere to a few tips to make sure you are using your genius, creativity and time to the best of your ability to make the process even more fun.
Write an Implementation Plan
For starters, make sure you always write an implementation plan using a flowchart or an equation. For more complex jobs, break the project into modules and consider what job each module must do, how data will get passed between modules, and within each module, how it will function. Taking the time to design the structure on paper, you will drastically reduce your debugging time.
Add Comments
Get in the habit of adding comments to your code. Each function should be preceded by 1 or 2 lines describing the arguments and what it returns. Tell “why” more often than “what”. If you change your code, make sure you update your comments as well.
Organize
Organize your code by using visual structure such as indenting a code block that sits within a loop. Also try putting spaces between a variable name and an operator such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and even the equal sign.
Test
Make sure you test with inputs you that you expect to flush out any bugs. Write your tests to always include extremes like zero and max for positive values and empty string, null for every parameter. Test with meaningless values and wrong values with zero in a parameter that will be used in division or negetive when a positive is expected, ect.
Problem Solve
Be a good listener and ask questions. Try to help the client problem solve unforeseen difficulties of a code and structure the project as a series of milestones with a demo for each block.
Continue Learning
Using tutorial sites are very helpful as are on-line technical training courses to stay current. Java training courses, Python training courses, and Oracle ADF training courses will help you learn the latest changes.
Reading the source codes of other programmers or working your way through their code by eye and working out the flow and what happens to the variables are a great way of improving your own skills. Then practice writing your own code to do the same thing. You will quickly learn why things need to be written a certain way and you will pick up some useful tips on how to write more efficiently.
Have other programmers read your code. There are on-line forums dedicated to your chosen programming language / operating system. Keep your past work for others to read, critique, and give you some constructive critism on. It’s a great way to learn something you may have never thought of before or get a different perspective. When someone else is reading your code, remember to keep an open mind and that most of all, this is fun!
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