This post was originally posted on my blog at cvuorinen.net
What is Clean Code?
Clean code is subjective and every developer has a pers...
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The hardest here is to begin with the idea to make it easily understandable and finish with it because sometimes you lose the control in making it easy to understand and you only think about making it do what you want it to do
Any tips for a somewhat beginner, writing functions that tend to be way too long, re-using variables too often?
Learn to use the extract method refactoring to split long methods. Look for clues when to use it, like if you feel like you should write a comment to explain some operation. Sometimes when writing a new public method/function I first list what the method should do as 2-4 lower level operations and write these as comments. I then start implementing each step as a separate function. This is more rare though, as I said in the article, clean code rarely happens on the first try, so learn to refactor.
Regarding the variables, if you are working with a language that allows you to specify variables as read-only then use that as a default (e.g. use
constrather thatletorvarin javascript) and only allow mutability when needed (makes you more aware when this happens and why it's needed). Also, splitting long functions into smaller ones helps with this problem as well ;)Try to write functions so that it does one thing. If there are few steps that had to be done try splitting it into chunks and then extract those chunks into private functions to make it easier to read. When you extract your code to another function give it a meaningful name. Sometimes it is good to look at the function after 1-2 days to see if you still know what's going on. And refactor, refactor, refactor! Many programming IDEs has nice refactoring tools so take advantage of those.
When I write a function I start with each big step of the task it has and write it as a separate function call and then write the code of the function accordingly. It's a similar approach to Carl's comments. Sometimes it helps to start with paper, programming doesn't start with writing a code ;)