While replying to a job posting, I started writing this little manifesto of sorts as a mission statement for myself. After kicking it around a little with my good friend Jesper of Waffle Software, I felt I should open it up to the world for criticism, additions, and discussion. The format and content owes much to Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles Of Good Design.
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Good Code is simple. It should be easy to understand for anyone who has to work on it.
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Good Code is instructive. Anyone with a similar level of expertise should be able to understand how to keep building on the code.
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Good Code is clear. Functions and variables should be named simply and descriptively. They should exist in a logical place in the source.
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Good Code is generic. Common functions and elements can be used in future projects, or improved and applied to older ones. Projects are simple and more easily maintainable.
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Good Code is specific. It solves only the problems it needs to.
I’m genuinely interested in feedback on this. Reply on your blog, tumblr or tweet me.