Coding Standards Summary

I was talking to some fellow technologists recently about coding standards. Two things about that conversation struck me as strange. The first was that we were talking about coding standards. That is not a topic of conversation that comes up regularly. The second thing that struck me was a request to summarize my coding standards in 60 seconds. I was stomped. How do you summarize coding standards?

I answered the questions, but not in the best way. I responded by regurgitating some of the elements of the standards that were most readily in my mind. Mostly the items that I recently added to my standards. It was not the answer that he wanted. The only thing that I accomplished was to look like a babbling buffoon.

I have been looking through my standards for the last few days to get a general idea or tone to the standards I can communicate. It has not been easy. I compiled those standards over the years from various sources and my own experience. As I encountered things, or mostly, did something wrong, I added new items.

Then it hit me; I can summarize my coding standards with two words: Quality and Maintainability.

Every single item in the standards serve to improve the quality or maintainability of my work. Many times, maintainability is preferred over brevity. Other times a style is chosen for the objective of quality over elegance. Don’t get me wrong, I love elegant code, and I’m not saying that elegant code is not quality. I am saying, however, that in situations where quality is pitted against elegance, quality wins.

I’ve been writing code for over 20 years. I have been relatively successful with code going from my computer to clients. However, I don’t recommend it.  Early on, I realized that having standards to guide you makes you better. I have published my standard so that you can make them yours. I hope that by doing so, I have helped you be a better developer.

Please feel free to review the Coding Standards, Coding Guidelines, and some Best practices.