Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Practical techniques for writing code that is robust, reliable, and easy for team members to understand and adapt. Summary
In Good Code, Bad Code you'll learn how to:
Think about code like an effective software engineer
Write functions that read like well-structured sentences
Ensure code is reliable and bug free
Effectively unit test code
Identify code that can cause problems and improve it
Write code that is reusable and adaptable to new requirements
Improve your medium and long-term productivity
Save yourself and your team time
The difference between good code or bad code often comes down to how you apply the established practices of the software development community. In Good Code, Bad Code you'll learn how to boost your productivity and effectiveness with code development insights normally only learned through careful mentorship and hundreds of code reviews.
Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.
About the technology
Software development is a team sport. For an application to succeed, your code needs to be robust and easy for others to understand, maintain, and adapt. Whether you're working on an enterprise team, contributing to an open source project, or bootstrapping a startup, it pays to know the difference between good code and bad code.
About the book
Good Code, Bad Code is a clear, practical introduction to writing code that's a snap to read, apply, and remember. With dozens of instantly-useful techniques, you'll find coding insights that normally take years of experience to master. In this fast-paced guide, Google software engineer Tom Long teaches you a host of rules to apply, along with advice on when to break them
What's inside
Write functions that read like sentences
Ensure your code stays bug-free
How to sniff out bad code
Save time for yourself and your team
About the reader
For coders early in their careers who are familiar with an object-oriented language, such as Java or C#.
About the author
Tom Long is a software engineer at Google where he works as a tech lead. Among other tasks, he regularly mentors new software engineers in professional coding best practices.
Table of Contents
PART 1 IN THEORY
1 Code quality
2 Layers of abstraction
3 Other engineers and code contracts
4 Errors
PART 2 IN PRACTICE
5 Make code readable
6 Avoid surprises
7 Make code hard to misuse
8 Make code modular
9 Make code reusable and generalizable
PART 3 UNIT TESTING
10 Unit testing principles
11 Unit testing practices
Synopsis
"Helps explain some of the knowledge gaps between enthusiastic new graduates and grouchy old gray beards like myself." - Joe Ivans
Practical techniques for writing code that is robust, reliable, and easy for team members to understand and adapt.
Good code or bad code? The difference often comes down to how you apply the conventions, style guides, and other established practices of the software development community. In Good Code, Bad Code you'll learn how to boost your effectiveness and productivity with code development insights normally only learned through years of experience, careful mentorship, and hundreds of code reviews.
In Good Code, Bad Code you'll learn how to:
- Think about code like an effective software engineer
- Write functions that read like a well-structured sentence
- Ensure code is reliable and bug free
- Effectively unit test code
- Identify code that can cause problems and improve it
- Write code that is reusable and adaptable to new requirements
- Improve your medium and long-term productivity
- Save you and your team's time
about the technology
Coding in a development team requires very different skills to working on personal projects. Successful software engineers need to ensure that their code is reusable, maintainable, and easy for others to understand and adapt.
about the book
Good Code, Bad Code is a shortcut guide to writing high-quality code. Your mentor is Google veteran Tom Long, who lays out lessons and mindsets that will take your code from "junior developer" to "senior engineer." This instantly-useful book distils the principles of professional coding into one comprehensive and hands-on beginner's guide.
You'll start with a jargon-free primer to coding fundamentals that teaches you to think about abstractions, consider your fellow engineers, and write code that can recover from errors. Next, you'll dive into specific techniques and practices. You'll run through common coding practices to learn when to apply the right technique to your problem--and which might be best avoided All practices are illustrated with annotated code samples written in an instantly recognizable pseudocode that you can relate to your favourite object-oriented language. By the time you're done, you'll be writing the kind of readable, reusable, and testable code that's the mark of a true software professional.
about the reader
For coders looking to improve their experience in professional software development.
about the author
Tom Long is a software engineer at Google. He works as a tech lead, mentoring and teaching professional coding practices to new graduates and beginner software engineers.