[Insight-developers] CLEAN CODE : 0x02

[Luis Ibanez]

"The next time you write a line of code,
 remember that you are an *author*
 writing for reader who will judge your effort.

 You might ask: How much is code really read ?
 Doesn't most of the effort go into writing it ?

 ...

 Have you ever played back an edit session ?
 (e.g. in Emacs or Vi)

 ...

 The ratio of time spent reading vs. writing is well over 10:1.
 We are *constantly* reading old code as part of the effort to
 write new code.

 Because this ratio is so high, we want the reading of code to
 be easy, even if it makes the writing harder. Of course, there's
 no way to write code without reading it, so making it easy to read
 actually makes it easier to write.

 There is no escape from this logic. You cannot write code if you
 cannot read the surrounding code. The code you are trying to write
 today will be hard or easy to write depending on how hard or easy
 the surrounding code is to read. So if you want to go *fast*, if
 you want to get done *quickly*, if you want your code to be easy
 to write, make it easy to read."


 "Clean Code"
 'A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship'
 by Robert C. Martin