CS 372 Spring 2016  >  Notes for February 15, 2016

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CS 372 Spring 2016
Notes
for February 15, 2016

The following is an outline of the February 15 lecture.

Clean Code

Background

• Book: Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship, by Robert C. Martin, 2009.
  • Recommended!
• This inspired the Clean Code Developer Initiative/School, started by Stefan Lieser & Ralph Westfall in 2009.
  • Alas, incomplete web pages, much of material in German.
  • However, some good ideas. Worth a look.
• Full of principles: you are allowed to disagree.
• These include far more material than we can cover. We will hit some of the highlights.

What is Clean Code [CC intro & chapter 1]

• The only valid measure of code quality: WTFs per minute.
• Total Cost of Owning a Mess
• Defining Clean Code: noteworthy phrases from interviews with famous programmers
  • Elegant.
  • Efficient.
  • Simple.
  • Direct.
  • Can be read & enhanced by a developer other than its initial author.
  • Looks like it was written by someone who cares.
    • I like this one. -GGC-
  • There is nothing obvious we can do to make it better.
  • Makes it look like the [programming] language was made for the problem.
• The Boy Scout Rule
  • Leave the campsite cleaner than when you found it.
  • So: write clean code, but also edit code to make it cleaner.

Meaningful Names [CC chapter 2]

• Use names that reveal intention.
• Avoid disinformation.
• Make meaningful distinctions.
• Names should be: pronounceable, searchable.
• Avoid “encodings”
  • Example of an encoding: beginning names of data members with “m_”.
  • I don’t really agree with this one. -GGC-
• Misc
  • Name of a class: a noun.
  • Name of a member function: a verb.
  • Programmer terminology is okay: AccountQueue.
  • If no programmer-ese is available, get terminology from the problem domain.
  • Context is good.
    • What is “state”? Are we running a state machine? Keeping track of solid vs. liquid vs. gas? Storing a mailing address? If the last option, then perhaps “addrState” is better.
    • But avoid gratuitous context.
• Came up in discussion: follow common conventions for names.

Clean Code will be continued next time.