General Coding Best Practices

Writing clean, maintainable, and scalable code is a critical skill for every engineer. Below are best practices that can help you and your team build reliable systems.

Category	Best Practices
Code Readability	Use meaningful variable names, follow consistent naming conventions, add comments.
Error Handling	Use exceptions responsibly, avoid swallowing errors silently.
Testing	Write unit tests, integration tests, and aim for high coverage.
Performance	Optimize only after measuring bottlenecks, avoid premature optimization.
Security	Validate inputs, avoid hardcoding secrets, follow secure coding standards.
Version Control	Commit often, write meaningful commit messages, use feature branches.
Collaboration	Participate in code reviews, provide constructive feedback.
Documentation	Maintain README, inline documentation, and API docs where applicable.
CI/CD	Automate builds, tests, and deployments.
Maintainability	Refactor regularly, keep code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself), modularize components.

Coding Best Practices

1. Code Readability

• Write clear, self-documenting code with meaningful variable, method, and class names.
• Follow established naming conventions (e.g., camelCase for variables/methods, PascalCase for classes).
• Keep functions small and focused on a single responsibility.

2. Error Handling

• Handle errors gracefully with proper logging and actionable error messages.
• Avoid swallowing exceptions; always log or rethrow them.
• Use custom exceptions when applicable to clarify the intent.

3. Testing

• Write unit tests for small, isolated pieces of logic.
• Add integration and end-to-end tests for critical workflows.
• Strive for a good test coverage percentage, but focus on meaningful test cases over numbers.

4. Performance

• Measure performance before optimizing; premature optimization can introduce complexity.
• Use efficient data structures and algorithms suitable for the problem domain.
• Profile applications to identify actual bottlenecks.

5. Security

• Always validate and sanitize user inputs.
• Use libraries and frameworks that follow secure coding practices.
• Avoid hardcoding secrets—use secret managers or environment variables instead.

6. Version Control

• Commit frequently with clear, descriptive commit messages.
• Use feature branches to isolate work in progress.
• Follow Git workflows (Git Flow, trunk-based development, etc.) that fit your team.

7. Collaboration

• Actively participate in code reviews and accept feedback constructively.
• Share knowledge with the team through pair programming or design discussions.
• Keep communication open to align technical decisions with business goals.

8. Documentation

• Maintain a project-level README with setup and usage instructions.
• Add inline documentation for complex logic or non-obvious decisions.
• Use tools like Swagger/OpenAPI for documenting APIs.

9. CI/CD

• Automate builds, tests, and deployments to reduce manual effort.
• Ensure that automated pipelines run quickly to provide fast feedback.
• Integrate quality checks (linting, tests, security scans) into pipelines.

10. Maintainability

• Refactor often to reduce technical debt.
• Follow the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle to avoid duplication.
• Write modular, reusable code for better maintainability and scalability.

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