Have you ever looked back onto your codes and though, ″Why did I wrote that? ″. Or stared at your colleagues’ screen with utter confusion? Worst when it comes to stumbling on a section you need to develop where the writer has retired 5 years before you were even hired and the only thing they have left behind are those hundred lines of unexplained strings intricately weaved together.

True that functional wise, as long as those algorithms are able to serve what they were meant to do, that would not be much of a problem▬ short-term. However, in the long-term for developing those how the code is written does matters. The way a code is written does not much matter to the computer executing it, but it does matter to the person who will be reading, developing, and maintaining the code.

Since all of us have different ways of thinking and different learning experiences, it would be expected that codes that containing the exact same function but written by two people would differ. As a solution adhering to a single coding style across the team and organisation could help save tons of efforts when coming back to comprehend old codes.

Another alternative is the use of flowcharts. Storing work process in the form of a flowchart would be easy to understand since the logic flows are clearly graphically depicted rather than displayed on a screen spanning with over a hundred lines long. Software such as SSQUARE APIG, contains this low coding flow chart function.

Once the code could be easily understood by future developers, work process and efficiency would be increase and jobs could be completed faster since less time is wasted on demystifying complex codes. More focus could be channelled to developing the system to get best results. Therefore, even though the way you code may not matter to the computer reading it, keep in mind that to your co-workers, it always do.

Date : 17/02/2020