Improving your code quality

Do you know what’s common in the universe and customers’ expectations? Both of them keep growing at an increasing speed. You might even argue that neither of them has any apparent borders, but this might not be true for the former… Anyway, if you and your team want to keep up with the ever-increasing demands of your customers, you must start implementing some best practices when it comes to improving code quality.

Here we give you a couple of tips that can help you improve your code in an agile environment.

Defining code quality

Although every organization has their own unique set of requirements, broadly speaking, code quality can be measured by assessing a few key aspects of it.

• Is it secure? Cybersecurity isn’t only a hot topic, it’s also a factor that must enjoy top priority when it comes to coding. In a world where a simple security bug can cost your users millions of dollars, you simply cannot afford to overlook this aspect.
• Is it clear? If you get hit by a bus tomorrow, will there be anyone in the world to deobfuscate the mess you have created? Seriously, though, good code is easy to read and follow along for fellow developers without much effort. Try being consistent with naming and follow the style guide. Also, feel free to add comments wherever necessary so that it’s easier for others to pick up later on if needed. 
• Is it reliable and efficient? No one likes bugs and crashes, especially users who can’t do much about them except for switching to another product. One of the cornerstones of code quality is how it performs. On that note, good code performs the task using the smallest possible amount of computing power, memory etc. This always gives you room for further optimization.
• Is it easy to maintain and extend? IT is a rapidly evolving environment. Today’s state-of-the-art software is tomorrow’s dinosaur. Good code, however, is in a way futureproof, meaning it can easily be extended and modified to keep up with the latest technological developments and expectations.

Best practices to improve code quality

Based on the above points a few best practices to improve your code quality might be

Making it easy to read

No one likes decoding (excuse the pun) another’s mess. Agree on clear and easy naming conventions and try maintaining a clear folder structure.

Add comments

So that anyone can understand your logic and can continue your code later on. Adding comments and explanations is especially important when you’re doing things the complicated way. Keep an eye on documenting things, as they might come in handy later.

Keep it simple

Use third party libraries wherever you can. There’s no need to write every single line by yourself when others have given you the building blocks to work with. That way you minimize the risk of making mistakes and might even make your code more clear and efficient.

Closing Words

Here we gave you some tips on improving code quality in an agile environment. Each company is different, but these practices seem to work all across the industry, so utilizing them will surely benefit your team and also the users of your product.