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How are developers’ needs changing due to COVID-19?

developer economics, developer survey, state of developer nation, developer report, developers needs due to covid-19

Working and performing during a pandemic will leave deep marks behind, both financially and psychologically speaking. In our latest survey, we asked developers how their needs have changed due to COVID-19. The findings shared in this post are based on the Developer Economics survey 19th edition which ran during June-August 2020 and reached more than 17,000 developers in 159 countries.

At the time of writing this post, there have been more than 30 million COVID-19 cases around the world, with 7.3 million of those still active. The virus is ubiquitous and affects all continents to more or less similar degrees. Working and performing during a pandemic is an experience that will undoubtedly leave deep marks behind, both financially and psychologically speaking.

7.2 million developers report needing flexible working hours/workload

We asked developers to select from a given set of technical and non-technical needs, up to three extra needs the pandemic has created for their own development activities. 73% of developers reported having additional needs due to COVID-19. In particular, 34%, or 7.2 million developers, expressed their need for flexible working hours/workload. 

Quarantine and social distancing policies have encouraged many employers to allow their workers to work from home, where possible. A large proportion of workers are now facing the inconvenience of relocating their working space into their home. Among such inconveniences is the necessity of taking care of households while keeping up productivity. Under these circumstances, flexibility is seen as the key to success, or simply survival.

The next most common perceived needs, reported by about one in four developers, are: 

  • collaboration tools and platforms (26%), 
  • online training resources (25%), and
  • virtual opportunities to support networking and peer-to-peer interaction (23%). 

Among these three, the only technical one, strictly speaking, refers to the need for collaboration tools, such as video conferencing platforms. The other top needs are related to self-improvement and self-management, and to socialising. 

The supremacy of non-technical needs is striking. All of the technical necessities, except collaboration tools, sit at the bottom of the list, being reported only by about one in ten developers: 

  • better performance in terms of computing resources (13%),
  •  hardware components (9%),
  •  increased security (9%), and 
  • additional cloud space (7%). 

There are two explanations for these patterns. First, developers may have not indicated the need for extra technical support because it had been already fulfilled, i.e. their employers had already provided them with it. It could also be, however, that developers did not perceive technical considerations as being more important than flexibility, networking, and learning.

The bigger the company, the more flexibility developers need

We found that the most important factor in influencing developers’ needs in relation to COVID-19 is their company size. Compared to those in middle- or large-sized companies, self-employed developers and developers working in small businesses of up to 20 employees report fewer new needs overall. That is especially the case for flexibility in terms of working hours/workload, and for collaboration tools. The most probable explanation is that they would have already implemented a flexible working schedule prior to COVID19. This is likely to apply to contractors as well as to small, dynamic startups. When it comes to keeping collaboration and interaction going, it may just be easier for small groups of people to maintain old habits or find an easy-to-use tool, such as emailing, phoning, or even getting together whilst respecting the required social distancing.

On the contrary, the bigger the company, the stronger the need for all of the above, including opportunities for virtual interactions. A large company typically requires a structured system of communication, and usually that system needs to accommodate the various teams’ diverse needs; even more so when a company is locked into an IT vendor’s services. 

Interestingly, the need for mental health support also linearly increases with company size, probably as a result of those challenges experienced in terms of flexibility and peer-to-peer communication and interaction. Another potential reason is that employees in larger organisations, where nobody is indispensable by default, may be experiencing more performance pressure and be more scared of losing their jobs.

How COVID19 is affecting developers’ technical needs 

While developers’ technical needs due to COVID-19 do not change significantly with company size, they strongly correlate to the developers’ level of involvement in tool purchasing decisions. Those most concerned about increased security, performance, and cloud space are the ones responsible for tool specs and expenses, as well as budget approval, who usually fulfill roles within technical management. 

On the one hand, with the increasing number of developers working from home, more machines need to be available and connected via VPN and similar technologies. More layers to navigate introduces complexity barriers that affect work efficiency, but also the need for the implementation of extra security controls. Furthermore, servers are often overloaded and downtimes happen more frequently, affecting system reliability. If you add to this the fact that budgets are being reduced or even frozen, due to the economic instability the pandemic is causing, the situation is actually precarious. Those in charge are inevitably the ones noticing the need for technical support the most. 

Conclusion

In a relatively short time, the pandemic has generated and consolidated a series of working practices that had been previously known only to a very small proportion of the population. Such new practices, based on remote working and virtual collaboration, are likely to persist after COVID-19. If one acknowledges this, investing in optimising support becomes even more valuable. We recommend that, especially large enterprises, consider the delicate balance between self management and collaboration needs when designing policies and offering support to their employees in the face of the pandemic situation.

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Analysis

The state of AR and VR in Asia: Highly developed working practices and a strong pipeline of students

ARVR Asia

This article originally appeared on DevRelX.     

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have been on the cusp of widespread adoption for many years now, but technical and commercial hurdles have impeded this process. For VR at least, it seems that 2020 could be the year when the technology goes truly mainstream – there are already several consumer-grade headsets available on the market and many game studios are following Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx into VR with their own AAA titles. AR, though now ubiquitous on smartphones and available for many industrial applications, still lags behind in adoption due to the more complex technical challenges such as object occlusion. That said, the recent rumours around Apple’s entry into the Mixed Reality (MR) space may spark a wave of innovators hoping to get the jump on them.

What we do know is that as VR, AR and MR achieve greater market penetration, not only will more developers be needed to create the immersive worlds and experiences that consumers demand, but artists and designers will also be required to populate these worlds with convincing inhabitants, create 3D assets and help to realize a creative vision. Fortunately, there is no shortage of hobbyists involved in AR and VR. As we discuss in our State of the Developer Nation report, not only are most people in AR or VR involved as hobbyists but around a quarter of those who work professionally in the two sectors still consider themselves to be hobbyists on the side.

We also discovered that a lot of developers in AR and VR were taking on many different roles, often those that aren’t traditionally associated with being a software developer. In fact, we coined a new term to describe those people who not only write code but who also dip their toes into more traditional creative endeavors. Enter the Hybrid Developer, and we’ll find out more about her very soon indeed.

At SlashData, as the analysts of the developer economy, we have traditionally been focused on understanding developers. But given the contributions that people in more artistic roles make to many sectors, especially to AR and VR, we felt that in order to truly understand this transformational technology, we needed to understand those people who help shape how it looks and feels. So, for the first time, we sought out people working in AR and VR in non-developer roles. We asked artists, creators, filmmakers and their ilk just what it’s like to work in AR and VR and here I’ll be sharing some of our most interesting findings.

What, exactly, is a Hybrid Developer?

First things first. Let’s understand more about these so-called Hybrid Developers. These are people that have a traditional developer role (a software engineer, or a DevOps specialist, for example), but who also take on more creative or artistic roles (artists and filmmakers, for example). This means that we can fit people involved in AR and VR into three categories:

  1. Pure developers – people who only have developer roles
  2. Hybrid developers – people who have both developer and creative roles
  3. Non-developers – people who don’t have developer roles

Generally speaking, around 63% of those involved in software development projects are pure developers, 21% are non-developers, and 15% are in hybrid roles. But people involved in AR and/or VR show very different behaviour. The distribution amongst these roles is much more even, with fewer pure developers (39%), slightly more hybrid developers (31%) and twice as many non-developers. This is a pattern that is replicated, to a greater or lesser degree across many regions, but it is in South and East Asia where these differences are most pronounced.

State of AR VR in Asia

East Asia is further along the curve for adoption of AR and VR

East Asia has very quickly adopted AR and VR, with almost two in five people involved in software development projects contributing to this sector in some way. But as well as being ahead of the curve in terms of the sheer number of people involved in the sector, non-developer AR/VR practitioners here find it easier to enter the space.

From the chart above you can see that in East Asia, AR/VR practitioners are more than twice as likely to be non-developers than people elsewhere in the world. We see this phenomenon replicated to a lesser extent for people not involved in AR/VR, with a correspondingly lower proportion of hybrid developers. We can draw two conclusions from this:

  1. In East Asia, people involved in software development projects are more specialised, taking on fewer hybrid roles.
  2. Non-developers in East Asia contribute more towards software development projects than elsewhere in the world

Looking to South Asia, the spread of roles in this region is much more balanced – not only does this region have a healthy proportion of hybrid developers, but the distribution of AR/VR practitioners between the three categories of pure, hybrid and non-developers is fairly even. Many AR/VR practitioners here have a balanced and varied skill set, with four in ten of them taking on hybrid roles, and this is something that we see replicated in other developing regions, such as the Middle East and Africa.

What types of roles are AR/VR practitioners taking on?

When we delve more deeply into the developer and non-developer roles that AR/VR practitioners take on, we can tease out some more important insights. The chart below shows a subset of all the roles we ask about (out of a total of 25). In East Asia, only two in ten AR/VR practitioners identify as programmers or developers, the lowest of all the regions, and much less than the rest of the world, where almost half of AR/VR practitioners identify as developers. This is another result of the rapid adoption of AR and VR in East Asia – non-developers have been able to enter the space more easily, and the whole AR/VR ecosystem is at a later stage of maturity.

The incidence of AR/VR practitioners in East Asia that identify as product managers, marketers or salespersons provides further evidence for this – once development practises have matured, productisation and monetisation take a front seat. Here, East Asia is also ahead of the curve.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that although East Asia has a much lower proportion of developers, there is not a correspondingly dominant role in East Asia which makes up for this. These ‘missing’ roles aren’t simply hiding in the ones I haven’t shown here. Instead, AR/VR practitioners in East Asia simply do fewer roles. 62% of them take on only a single role, compared to 47% of AR/VR practitioners in the rest of the world. Only 11% of them do four or more roles, compared to a whopping 27% in the rest of the world. Generally speaking, taking on many different roles is a hallmark of being involved in AR/VR (as we discussed in our State of the Developer Nation report), but this is resoundingly not the case in East Asia. Specialization is another result of a sector maturing – roles become more defined and people have to wear fewer hats, working instead collaboratively in specialized teams.

Finally, without wanting to labor the point, the lower incidence of data scientists and machine learning developers is yet another sign that East Asia is ahead of the curve. Data science and machine learning are foundational to the success of VR, and in particular, AR. Many of the advances here have come from image recognition and other technologies which mitigate some of the hardware difficulties faced by people creating for AR and VR. You might expect this to be reflected in the number of AR/VR practitioners identifying as data scientists, but this is not the case. One viewpoint is that these low numbers are simply a correlation with the lower number of developers in general. But it’s also possible that those who are into AR and VR use a higher level of abstraction – instead of building machine learning models, they simply plug into an API and get the results they need and don’t consider themselves data scientists.

As AR and VR become more established in other regions, we can expect to see many of these phenomena filtering throughout the globe, although the differing cultures and economic situations at play mean that each region will develop its own idiosyncrasies. This said, one good indicator that a sector is in ascension is a high proportion of students, and here, South Asia is ahead of the curve, with over half of AR/VR practitioners here identifying as students. Granted, there are more students in South Asia across all the sectors, but it’s particularly high for AR and VR (51%, compared to 38% for those not involved). South Asia is definitely a region to watch for AR and VR development in the future.

State of AR VR in Asia

If this post has piqued your interest or sparked some interesting questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know. We hold rich and varied information on people involved in AR and VR, and we’re adding to it all the time!

Want to see more? Check out our latest research reports and graphs based on data from developers like you who took our global surveys.

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Tips

Infographic: What do you know about the gender gap in programming?

gender gap in programming, developer economics survey, developer data, female developer, female coders, women who code, women programmers

When you look around your classroom or office (mobile office at a coffee shop counts too), what do you see? Do you see mostly guy coders in t-shits and hoodies or is there a healthy mix of both male and female developers? Hopefully it’s the latter. But that often isn’t the case in many developer settings. It’s important to acknowledge that the gender gap in programming is still a challenge.

In our earlier post, we’ve identified that despite massive technological advancement, today only 1 in 10 programmers is a woman. To understand better possible reasons behind the gender gap, we turned to the data from our own Developer Economics survey. Our infographic sums up some of the findings from the the 18th edition of our Developer Economics survey, fielded between November 2019 and February 2020.  The survey reached more than 17,000 developers in 159 countries.

For a full story behind the data, head over to our blog post. Don’t forget to share the infographic and let’s start a discussion on this important topic!

gender gap in programming, female programmers, female developers, infographic, developer data, developer survey, developer economics
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Community

What did developers have to say about our Q2 2020 survey?

developer feedback

Do we read your feedback? Yes we do! We LOVE to see what our community has to say and always invite feedback in our surveys.

Our 19th Developer Survey was no different. 17,241 developers took part from 165 countries and 8,200 participants left feedback. We asked developers if there was anything we forgot to ask, whether they enjoyed the experience and how we can improve in our next Developer Economics Survey. This is what they said:

developer feedback

We loved hearing from our community and our team are taking on board all your comments to make our 20th survey even better. Did we say 20th? Yes that’s right, standby for our anniversary survey! To ensure that you are notified when it’s live, sign up. Don’t forget to make sure the survey notification option is ticked, so we can email you when we are ready. 

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Community

Developer Prizes: Announcing our Q2 2020 survey prize winners!

developer prizes
developer prizes

Thanks to all of you who took part in our Q2 2020 Developer Economics survey! Your responses make a difference and contribute to the developer ecosystem. We’re super excited as it is now time to announce the full list of our developer prizes and their winners!

Developers who take our surveys earn 100 points for every new survey completed, plus 10 points for providing their feedback about the survey. You can see the list of benefits and rewards here.

Exclusive Community Prize Draw for members with 801+ points – Microsoft Surface Pro 7 and One Plus 7T

WinnerCountryPrize
j*****@h******.c** MexicoMicrosoft Surface Pro 7
m*****.t*********@g****.c** LithuaniaOnePlus 7T

Exclusive Community Prize Draw for members with 801+ points – Prizes: Vouchers, branded stickers, water bottles, surprise swag, and socks

WinnerCountryPrize
j*****@h******.c**MexicoMicrosoft Surface Pro 7
m*****.t*********@g****.c**LithuaniaOnePlus 7T
S********@h******.c**Pakistan$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
a*********@y****.c**United States$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
l*@l****.c**Colombia$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
p****@p**********.n***Australia$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
c****@h******.c**United States$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
c*******@y****.c**United StatesBranded stickers and water bottle
z*********@g****.c**TaiwanBranded stickers and water bottle
b*****@e*************.c**United StatesBranded stickers and water bottle
r******@g****.c**CanadaBranded stickers and water bottle
d*.b****@g****.c**CanadaBranded stickers and water bottle
t*******.h******@g**.d*GermanySurprise swag
s******.s******@g****.c**GermanySurprise swag
l***********@g****.c**CanadaSurprise swag
m*****@c*******.i*ItalySurprise swag
s******.t**@g****.c**MalaysiaSurprise swag

Here’s a sneak peak at the surprise swag!


developer prize - surprise swag

Exclusive Community Prize Draw for members with 501+ points – Prizes: Vouchers, surprise swag, branded stickers and socks

WinnerCountry Prize
j***********@g****.c**Japan$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
a***********@g****.c**Malta$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
a*************@g****.c**Spain$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
f***********@g****.c**Nigeria$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
n.s*******@g****.c**United Kingdom$50 Udemy or Amazon voucher
k******@g****.c**ItalySurprise swag
t****.a*******@g****.c**AlgeriaSurprise swag
p**********@g****.c**South AfricaBranded stickers and socks
j********@g****.c**United StatesBranded stickers and socks
k*****.k******@g****.c**GreeceBranded stickers and socks
n********@w****.c**IsraelBranded stickers and socks
s*********@g****.c**PortugalBranded stickers and socks

Exclusive Community Prize Draw for members with 301+ points – Prizes: Branded surprise swag, stickers and socks

WinnerCountryPrize
b*****@g****.c**HungarySurprise swag
g****.o**@o******.c**United KingdomSurprise swag
t***********@g****.c**United StatesBranded stickers and socks
m*********@g****.c**United StatesBranded stickers and socks

General Prize Draw

WinnerCountryPrize
h*********@g****.c**EgyptiPhone 11
d*****@y*****.r*RussiaJetBrains All Products Pack
o*********@g****.c**MexicoGitKraken Pro license
a******@o******.c**KenyaGitKraken Pro license
g****.c*****@h******.c**CanadaGitKraken Pro license
s******.a***@g****.c**IndiaGitKraken Pro license
z***********@g****.c**RussiaGitKraken Pro license
p************@g****.c**IndiaGitKraken Pro license
n************@g****.c**JapanCloud Guru x 6 months license
j*****@g****.c**RussiaCloud Guru x 6 months license
d************@g****.c**IndiaCloud Guru x 6 months license
m*******.m*******@g****.c**RussiaRaywenderlich.com 3 months Professional subscription
e****.s******.9*@g****.c**RussiaRaywenderlich.com 3 months Professional subscription
A*********@y*****.r*RussiaRaywenderlich.com 3 months Professional subscription
f.a*****@g****.c**TurkeySitePoint premium subscriptions x 6 months
n***********@g****.c**RussiaSitePoint premium subscriptions x 6 months
b****@l***.r*RussiaSitePoint premium subscriptions x 6 months
v****.m**********@g****.c**UkraineSitePoint premium subscriptions x 6 months
n*******@g****.c**RussiaSitePoint premium subscriptions x 6 months
s*************@y****.c*.u*United KingdomSeagate STGX5000400 Portable 5TB External Hard Drive HDD
r*****.c****.g*******@g****.c**VenezuelaCorsair K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
m*****.a********@g****.c**Nigeria$20 Amazon voucher
i***.f****@m*.e**.a*Australia$20 Amazon voucher
t***********@g****.c**Russia$20 Amazon voucher
a************@g****.c**Ghana$20 Amazon voucher
j************@g****.c**United States$20 Amazon voucher
g*****@g****.c**France$20 Amazon voucher
n***********@g****.c**Brazil$20 Amazon voucher
m***.l**.p*******@g*********.c**Japan$20 Amazon voucher
m*************@g****.c**India$20 Amazon voucher
d*******@g****.c**United States$20 Amazon voucher
m******@g****.c**Canada$20 Amazon voucher
m***.d*******@g****.c**NetherlandsBaseCode field guide – full kit
h********@g****.c**RussiaBaseCode field guide – full kit
h***@j*************.e*SpainBaseCode field guide – full kit
t*************@g****.c**South AfricaBaseCode field guide – full kit
d****.b****@f*******.c**FranceBaseCode field guide – full kit
a****************@g****.c**UkraineBaseCode field guide – full kit
r****@m***.r* RussiaIntroduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition (The MIT Press)

The State of AR/VR Survey Prize Draw

WinnerCountryPrize
h******@g****.c**MexicoOculus Quest 64GB
i******@g****.c**United KingdomSketchfab 12 month Pro License
m*******.t*****@g****.c**United StatesOctaneRender Studio for Unity – 12 months license
d*********@g****.c**United StatesiPhone 11
a****.q**********@g****.c**CanadaVufori12 months Basic License
a***.p********@g****.c**IndiaVR Ninjas Virtual Reality Mat
n******.c******.f@g****.c**ChileVR Ninjas Virtual Reality Mat

Extra Prize Draws

WinnerCountryPrize
s*******.1*@g****.c**India$50 Amazon voucher
j**********@i*****.c**BrazilDeveloper Economics hoodie
s*****.b********@g****.c**United StatesAugmented Reality: Principles and Practice (Usability) book
m***.l****@g****.c**United StatesThe Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition, 2nd Edition: Your Journey to Mastery book
f********@b*.r*KazakhstanInsomniPlus license ($50 value) – Debug APIs like human, not robot
p*********@g****.c**VietnamDeveloper Economics hoodie
s*******@g****.c**RussiaSoft Skills: The software developer’s life manual
s******.l*****@g****.c**South AfricaDeveloper Economics hoodie
t*****************@g****.c**South Africa$20 Amazon voucher
r*************@g****.c**NigeriaThe 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure book
r**********@g****.c**GermanyDeveloper Economics hoodie
2*******@w**.d*Germany$20 Amazon voucher
m********@b*.r*RussiaGame Engine Architecture, Third Edition book
m**************@n****.c**IndonesiaDeveloper Economics hoodie
m************@m***.r*Russia$20 Amazon voucher
m*****.b****@g****.c**SpainPrecision: Principles, Practices and Solutions for the Internet of Things book
g*********.s**@g****.c**VietnamDeveloper Economics hoodie
l*********@g****.c**India$20 Amazon voucher
d********@g****.c**NigeriaDeep Learning (Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning series) book
j**************@y****.c**United StatesDeveloper Economics hoodie
s***********@g****.c**Russia$20 Amazon voucher
s***********@g****.c**RussiaRaywenderlich.com 3 months Professional subscription
m******.b********@g****.c**IndiaDeveloper Economics hoodie
x*******@y****.c*.j*Japan$20 Amazon voucher
v************@g****.c**UkraineMastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain 2nd Edition book
o******.m******@c**********.n**FranceDeveloper Economics hoodie
d*******@g****.c**United States$20 Amazon voucher
p***********@m***.r*RussiaThe Phoenix Project: Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
j********@g****.c**South Africa$20 Amazon voucher
g*************@g****.c**IndonesiaDeveloper Economics hoodie

Dicoding Prize Draw – Dicoding Learning Path (Beginner Android or Beginner Web class or mixed) – Exclusive developers taking the survey from Indonesia

Winners
g**********@g****.c**
t**************@g****.c**
w********@g****.c**
y*******@g****.c**
d***************@g****.c**
r***********@g****.c**
a***************@g****.c**
s**************@g****.c**
a**********@g****.c**
h**********@g****.c**
w******@g****.c**
f*********@g****.c**
a***************@g****.c**
a******************@g****.c**
r****.h****@g****.c**
t****.i********@g****.c**
w**********@g****.c**
w**************@g****.c**
d**************@g****.c**
m***********@g****.c**
r********@g****.c**
a************@g****.c**
i******@g****.c**
s*********@g****.c**
m*******@g****.c**

We’ve already reached out to the winners by email. Do you recognise one of the email addresses as yours but haven’t received your email yet? Please contact us at community@developereconomics.com

The lists above only include prize-draw winners and not runner-ups. If the prize draw winners do not claim their prizes within 10 workings of us contacting them, then runner-ups will be invited to claim them instead. 

Some of the winners have generously donated the cost of their prize to Techfugees, the charity we supported during the survey. 

We’d like to say a special thanks to the lovely people at BaseCode, Dicoding, GitKraken, SitePoint, Sketchfab who supported us during our Q2 2020 Developer Economics survey by donating a prize – you rock!!

If you’re not a winner, don’t despair, our next survey, our 20th (!!), will be live later this year. We’re already on the hunt for some amazing prizes, and open to your suggestions. What prizes would you like to win? Drop us an email or send us a Tweet.

To ensure that you are notified when our next survey is live, sign up. Don’t forget to make sure the survey notification option is ticked.

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Tips

Common developer frustrations and how to overcome them

common developer frustrations

Derek Lee Boire, Senior Member of Technical Staff at VMware Pivotal Labs, addresses common developer frustrations, such as decision fatigue,  and the tools and methods to overcome them.

If you’re a developer, whether you realize it or not, you’ve probably experienced ‘decision fatigue’ at one point in your career. Decision fatigue occurs when the quality of the decisions we make deteriorates due to the mental fatigue of having already made a lot of decisions. While some people may want to believe that they have infinite willpower, our mental energy and focus has a limit no different than our physical bodies do. You can train long, or you can train hard – either way your body will tire eventually.

But just as we can train our bodies to endure additional stress, we can also train our minds to increase our focus. Or ideally – simplify our work to allow us to save our energy for the mental challenges that really make a difference. For example, a person with a clear idea of how they would like to manage their diet will be able to make easier decisions when grocery shopping, which can be helpful when different options are particularly abundant.  

While this example refers to a relatively simple, personal decision, it’s even more important to alleviate the burden of choice for more complex decisions which involve a greater number of stakeholders. These are the types of decisions software developers will make with each line of code written, putting them at a high-risk of experiencing decision fatigue. Here we look at some of the ways in which decision fatigue and other common developer frustrations that can manifest in software development, and the tools and methods that can be employed to combat them.

Common developer frustrations

Discoverability

If there is a task that must be performed many times, or takes a long time to do manually, or is complicated and error-prone, developers should consider using automation. Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), the practice of automating testing and deployment of your application, is one example of this. When you automate a process, you don’t just make it easier to execute, save time, and ensure consistency – you also make it discoverable. 

This means that if a new member joins the team and has never worked with CI/CD before, reviewing the script that manages this automated process will help them to easily understand how the application is deployed. 

This can apply to source-code as well. If you’ve ever worked on a backend API that is consumed by others, you know how important it is for your API to be easily understood in order for users to easily consume it. This same level of understanding can be applied to your internal APIs that you build for yourself, for future you, and for other members of your team. 

As software engineers, we are all authors. As such, we need to consider the audience who is consuming the code that we are writing. 

Rabbit Holes

When working independently, it can be easy to find yourself lost down a “rabbit hole” – deep into trying to solve a problem and unable to remember where you had started or why you went down this route in the first place. Developers working in isolation are particularly prone to finding themselves in a rabbit hole, which is a sure-fire sign that decision fatigue is settling in. 

Collaborative development processes, like pair programming, help developers avoid rabbit holes through creating a culture of fast feedback and knowledge-sharing. When there’s only one person who understands how a specific feature was implemented, this carries a risk for the team if that person is out on vacation, happens to get sick, or is out for any number of reasons, then the team can get stuck. 

One recommended practice for pair programming is to rotate who pairs with who daily to ensure that several different team members have knowledge of how each part of the system works. This is a great way to share knowledge throughout the team as well as to ensure that the team can always continue to make forward progress, even if a team member is unavailable. 

Pair programming is built upon equality and mutual respect, a by-product of which is the establishment and/or sustenance of a culture of knowledge-sharing. Approaches to collaboration based on equal parts observation and communication are always more effective in keeping people engaged. After all, too much of one or not enough of the other can make it difficult to concentrate, which is especially detrimental when trying to absorb or share knowledge.  For example, I recently learned from a pair programming session about how test-driven deployment (TDD) could be applied to configuring docker containers using scripting purely vicariously.

Domino Code

Unsure how to implement a new feature or enhance an existing feature? If there’s a similar feature in the application, it could be a good reference so you can just follow the existing code patterns and tack on the new functionality, right? Sure, this might work for the first or second time – but by the third or fourth time you’ve repeated this pattern, it could start to get unwieldy. The easy way may be to follow the same pattern, and this can be good to maintain consistency in the codebase. However, to ensure that the software can continue to evolve, a different abstraction might be helpful. 

Developers often see an existing pattern and simply copy and paste or tack on more of the same.  While the pattern may have been easy to understand when it was initially implemented, repeated use can eventually create a ‘domino’ effect –  whereby that same pattern, at scale, may no longer serve the code after it has evolved. 

While there are some developers who are strictly against code duplication, it can sometimes actually be helpful. There’s a delicate balance between code duplication and creating a premature abstraction. Sometimes duplication is, in fact, necessary if an abstraction or cleaner way of writing can’t yet be discerned. It can be good to just let the code “simmer” for a bit longer and see how it will evolve. 

Developers should therefore be aware of the code being copied or the patterns continually being promoted in the code. The next time you find an existing code pattern and your initial instinct is to simply copy it, consider this: the next time you or someone else encounters this code, would it make sense to continue using this pattern, or is it time to consider refactoring or creating an abstraction? A good example is when a class becomes so long that it is difficult to manage (also known as ‘long class code smell’ amongst developers). The easy action is to continue to add to it and make it longer. When you detect this “smell”, consider if it would become easier to manage if it was broken down into more than one class. Are there multiple responsibilities within the same class that could be separated?

Culture of Growing and Sharing Knowledge

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all practices for building code which works for everyone. Consistency in the practices deployed (i.e. code style, formatting, automation) is another significant area where many of the major barriers can be overcome. But the first step toward implementing any of the practices described here involves a more widespread, cultural change within the organisation itself. 

Developers work best when organisational culture promotes growing and sharing knowledge within the team. This should be approached comprehensively rather than on the basis of incentives: “lunch and learn” sessions are great, but free food will only get you so far when you don’t really get to take a break from work. Instead, development teams should tie core values like communication, courage and respect to every aspect of the work they do. Doing this will help alleviate common barriers faced by developers to writing great software, while also contributing to an increase in productivity, quality of work, and developer well-being.

About

Derek Lee Boire is a Senior Member of Technical Staff at VMware Pivotal Labs. Derek’s career as an IT professional and consultant has given him experience in every aspect of software development. From working with clients to understand and detail their requirements, prototyping solutions, designing technical architectures for large-scale systems, leading development teams and helping implement agile design methodologies. 

GitHub: derekleerock

Twitter: @derekleerock

Further reading

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Tools

A Guide to Choose the Right JavaScript Framework for Web Programming

JavaScript frameworks

The platforms of JavaScript probably are the best frameworks for developers as well as business organizations nowadays. Already, there is a vast ocean of JavaScript frameworks, with new ones pouring in constantly.  Frontend developers have difficulty in making up their minds as to which framework to stick to, particularly for single-page apps.

There are so many JavaScript frameworks and libraries to choose from on the web. Among the most popular however include React, Angular, Ember, Meteor, and Vue. The frameworks of JavaScript are preferred over others due to their functionality and interoperability. The libraries offer a better functional approach, good scalability, and most important of all platform independence.

JavaScript at present is used on the client and server-sides. The platform helps in designing an enriched user experience with many features to alter web pages in real-time. For fast web application development, JavaScript is the most preferred and acts as the perfect skeleton for single page applications, enabling developers complete focus on the interface elements, expanding the platform capabilities.

To further determine the best JavaScript framework to choose that best fits your web programming requirements, take a closer look at the five best JavaScript frameworks. 

Five best JavaScript Frameworks


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React JavaScript Framework


JavaScript frameworks - React

The brain-child of Facebook: it’s the framework in which the highest viewed social media platform, Facebook is based on. It’s supported by the FB team and also the driving force behind Instagram. It’s the choice of developers for many reasons to create dynamic and high-traffic web apps. 

Deemed as the quickest growing framework, with over 1000 GitHub contributors which increases the use of ReactJS in development with high demand.

React acts as a View in the MVC framework, and could be integrated seamlessly and smoothly into any architecture. One component file has the HTML markup and the business logic. You can either use Flux or a similar JS library for components communication. 

The seamless transfer of data between components is easy with the help of the props objects and the state. Credits to the Virtual DOM and special reconciliation algorithm, front-end gets a considerable boost. Changes could be done by developers in real-time, without having to update the View each time.

Pros:

The major component of boosting performance is the virtual DOM. Since React is framework-friendly, you could integrate it with other frameworks for inflated compatibility and performance. Moreover, it could be utilized on the client and the server-side. 

Cons:

Its flexibility is also its downside. It’s not easy to choose from the overabundance of frameworks. It works only on the MVC Framework’s View layer. 

In spite of the inclusion of the major code libraries, in some instances it still needs more code. And since it’s more of a library instead of framework, data changes need manual processing. 

Angular JavaScript Framework


JavaScript frameworks - Angular

The web-app platform is type-script based, making it exceptionally agile. Led by the Angular team at Google, a community of members and testers, it’s an open-source solution. Referred often as an MVW framework, it’s considered the best to use, particularly among startups and medium-size enterprises.

What sets Angular apart from the rest of the JavaScript frameworks is its two-way data binding, which makes backend changes reflect in real time on the user interface. As the most sought-after apps for Single Page Applications, an Angular JS development company enjoys high demand. 

It’s preferred for hybrid mobile apps as well. Features like switches, sidebars, and overlays integrate dynamic functionality to apps. It came about in 2016 with the version 2.0, the immediate release occurred in Angular 4 in the following year, with updates at regular intervals. Angular 5 was released in 2017 followed by 6 in the middle of 2018, then Angular 7 in September of the same year.



The diagram of the architecture identifies eight major building blocks of Angular 2 app.

Components – are a logical code for a JS app, consisting of a class, template, and metadata. 

Modules – used in creating a particular set of instructions. Rather than coding everything in a single place, you could build individual modules, which depend on the functionality. A module contains an export array, bootstrap array, and an import array as well.

Metadata – has the extra data defined for classes and is defined with a decorator.

Data binding – used for binding classes properties in the components.

Directives – a custom element of HTML. Used for extending the HTML functionality, with two directives as part of the Browser Module module.

Services – service is built to provide common functionality across various program modules. 

Templates – used for rendering the View for an app, consisting of the HTML code required for binding, rendering, and directives.

Dependency injection – used for extending module functionality during runtime.

Pros:

Yields huge performances, which is made possible by type-scripting. It offers libraries and functionalities for nested components, as well as web components support.

Cons:

It modifies a pre-existing DOM, which makes it slow and inefficient compared to React. It maintains a physical distance between the JavaScript driving an app and the HTML rendered.

Vue.js JavaScript Framework


JavavScript frameworks - Vue.js

Was introduced in 2016. It instilled the better parts of React, Angular, and Ember and put into a handy package. Vue’s learning curve was better than Angular and React.

What makes it stand out among the rest is the two-way binding, optional JSX support, Vue-cli, server-side rendering, and more. The ecosystem of the framework is composed of a view-loader as a component, library, Chrome, Vue.js devtools, Firefox, as well as a dedicated library Vuex to manage app state with the framework. Thus, it’s the better option than its counterparts for SPAs and cross-platform solutions.

You might see the Vue library as a combination of React and Angular, and somehow it’s true. It borrows the concepts of both React and Angular concepts. Layouts and logic, together with stylesheets are stored in a file. It also utilizes props objects and states, the same as React.

A reason to opt for Vue over React nonetheless is that React apps used the Redux library. As the app grows in size, building mini changes across files has the tendency to be tedious. This makes the Vue framework more favourable than others.

Pros

A collection of the best parts of the majority of frameworks. Thus, understanding the ease and deployment comes around. Very flexible, as well as facilitates a two-way communication, with a virtual DOM as well.

Cons

The downfall with Vue is its high flexibility. The high integrity makes choosing one for development hard. Most users of the Vue.js framework belong to non-native English speakers’ closed communities. The barrier in language is one of the reasons why developers are wary of using it.

React Native JavaScript Framework


JavaScript frameworks - React Native

It was a breakthrough when it comes to mobile application development. Before React, developing an Android and iOS app required various code sets. The whole deployment and coding functionality varied, and took a big toll on the expenses. 

React Native was launched by Facebook a few years back, revolutionizing the phone apps concept. You could write an app code and deploy at the same time on iOS and Android. The great success was the write once, deploy anywhere concept and React since then has been the foremost choice of native application development.

The framework takes the development of mobile apps to an all-new level, using CSS-like stylesheets, JS code, and HTML tags for lay-outing.

Pros

The concept of one framework, numerous platforms is a great React Native bonus. It has an extremely streamlined UI, and you could make apps faster with them.

Cons

The navigation is a turnoff, and transitions are not smooth either. It lacks the required custom modules for native application development. Native developers moreover are still required to accomplish the task.

Ionic JavaScript Framework


JavaScript frameworks - Ionic

It’s all about performance and nothing else. A cross-platform, and open-sourced, it’s used for developing hybrid mobile apps. A mobile HTML5 framework, it’s solely aimed at performance, using hardware acceleration. What’s great is that it does not require a third-party JS library. 

Ionic could be teamed up with Angular.js for building an interactive application. It comes with a set of its own icon set, called the Ionicons. Then it’s teamed up with reusable HTML classes for building an interactive mobile user interface. The HTML5 framework works with the help of Cordova or PhoneGap. 

Pros

A once code for all Ionic2 Concepts makes it favourable for developing an app.  Moreover, it’s open source and thus free entirely. The open source advantage of the huge developer community, as well as testers ascertain that the framework is top notch at all times. The open source benefit of a big community of developers and testers ensures that Ionic is on the top always.

Cons

Because of the code simplicity, creating an in-app navigation could be burdensome. It’s a very complicated task. The performance of the in-app is swift as the app when developed for individual devices. Because Angular.js is a must for Ionic 2, Angular.js knowledge is a critical factor in app development.

JavaScript is highly favoured among all the other programming languages. A few benefits are the following.

1. Safety. They are in continuous iteration, therefore they have a large community of members, as well as testers. 

2. Expense. Web applications cost an arm and a leg as most frameworks cost more. Most of the frameworks of JavaScript however are free of cost. This lowers the costs of web development drastically.

3. Efficiency. As earlier mentioned, the JavaScript frameworks are cutters of cost. In addition, they are also time savers, credits to the prebuilt functionalities for a faster web application development.

Conclusion

The whole website development community is extremely agile and continuously updates. Every month, a new framework is being released.  Those that are released are under constant upgrades and enhanced with the latest functions. We hope this guide helps you to choose the right JavaScript framework for you.

Author Bio:

Olivia D. is a technology observer, writer and blogger. Being a tech geek, she keeps a close watch over the industry focusing on the latest technology news and gadgets. Follow me on Twitter.

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Tips

Scale Up Deep Learning in the Cloud

Scale up deep learning in the cloud

Deep learning is typically a long and costly endeavour, especially when it comes to training models. There are many factors that impact the process, but processing power, in particular, can make or break your pipeline. Today, many developers leverage graphics processing units (GPUs). Learn how you can scale up deep learning in the cloud. 

GPUs enable you to run simultaneous compute operations. This capability can significantly speed up your model training time. While on-premise GPUs aren’t an option for everyone, there is an increasing number of cloud-based GPUs options you can take advantage of.

Who Is Using Deep Learning in the Cloud?

As of Q4 2019, there are 13.3M developers working on data science, machine learning and AI development worldwide, up from 12.2M a year ago,  based on the findings from the Developer Economics Q4 2019 survey.

Click here to help us update the figure for 2020 – take part in our latest Developer Economics Q2 2020 survey live now.


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While many of these developers are working on more accessible, and budget friendly, machine learning (ML) projects, deep learning implementations are also gaining traction. The obvious organizations to look to for this are the cloud providers themselves and other industry giants, including Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. Others include Snapchat, Fermilab, Disney, and Carnegie Mellon University.

However, deep learning in the cloud is also proving beneficial for many smaller organizations that would otherwise not have access to the technology. As larger organizations have increased their adoption, the breadth and availability of services has increased and the cost has gone down. This has paved the way for deep learning models to be used in everything from mobile games to evaluating credit-checks.

Benefits of Deep Learning in the Cloud

Depending on the scale of your operations, implementing deep learning in the cloud can provide a number of benefits. This is particularly true for teams looking to adopt machine learning operations (MLOps) since pipelines and tooling are often already in the cloud. 

Increased scalability

One of the greatest benefits of using cloud resources for deep learning is the scalability that is possible. On-premises deployments are limited by local hardware and scaling can take significant time. In the cloud, however, you can scale as needed, temporarily provisioning hardware for particularly compute heavy tasks and scaling down during other times.

Additionally, cloud resources can provide scalability for hybrid workloads by providing burst capabilities as needed. This enables organizations to extend the value of their on-premises resources while still granting access to more performance.

Provider support for tooling

All major cloud providers offer some level of built-in support for existing ML and deep learning tools, including TensorFlow and PyTorch. This enables teams to continue working with the tools they are familiar with without limitations created by OS or infrastructure. 

Additionally, some providers offer enhancements for these frameworks. For example, pre-crafted notebooks for faster deployment. These enhancements enable teams to leverage provider tooling or resources to make implementation processes more efficient. 

Reduced barrier to entry

Machine learning in general and deep learning in particular, can require significant expertise and resources to implement. Cloud providers can help lower these barriers by offering pre-built services for developing, training, testing models. Some providers even offer ML as a service, enabling teams without ML developers to leverage the technologies available. 

Additionally, cloud resources can provide an easier entry point for deep learning operations. With cloud resources, you can test out methods and processes before making significant investments in hardware or tooling. You can also start small, and low risk, with cloud resources and scale up to on-premises investments once you better understand your hardware needs. 

GPUs in the Cloud

As cloud providers increase their support and options for deep learning implementations, organisations are beginning to take notice. While there are specialised providers available, the big three are where many organisations, especially those just getting started, should look.

Azure

Azure provides several choices for GPU-based instances. All of these instances are designed for high computation tasks, including deep learning, simulations, and visualisations.

In Azure, you can choose from three instance series:

  • NC-series—optimised for compute and network-intensive workloads. These instances can support OpenCL and CUDA-based applications and simulations. GPUs available include the NVIDIA Tesla V100, the Intel Broadwell, and the Intel HaswellGPUs.
  • NV-series—optimised for visualisations, encoding, streaming and virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI). These instances support OpenGL and DirectX. GPUs available include the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 and NVIDIA Tesla M60 GPUs. 
  • ND-series—optimised for deep learning training scenarios and inference. GPUs available include the NVIDIA Tesla P40, Intel Skylake, and Intel Broadwell GPUs. 

AWS

AWS provides four instance options, available in multiple sizes. These include EC2 P2, P3, G3, and G4 instances. With these instances, you can choose to access NVIDIA Tesla M60, T4 Tensor, K80, or V100 GPUs and can include up to 16 GPUs per instance.

With AWS, you also have the option of using Amazon Elastic Graphics. This service enables you to connect your EC2 instances to a variety of low-cost GPUs. You can attach GPUs to any instance that is compatible for greater workload flexibility. The Elastic Graphics service also provides up to 8GB of memory and supports OpenGL 4.3.

Google Cloud

Although Google Cloud doesn’t offer dedicated instances with GPUs, it does enable you to connect GPUs to existing instances. This works with standard instances and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) instances. It also enables you to deploy node pools including GPUs. Support is available for NVIDIA Tesla V100, P4, T4, K80, and P100 GPUs.

Another option in Google Cloud is access to TensorFlow processing units (TPUs). These units are made of multiple GPUs. TPUs are designed to quickly perform matrix multiplication and can provide performance similar to Tensor Core enabled Tesla V100 instances. Currently, PyTorch provides partial support for TPUs.

Conclusion

There are a number of benefits to using cloud-based GPUs. Perhaps the most popular advantage is the scalability of the cloud. Instead of being limited to local hardware, you can quickly scale up or down without incurring on-prem overhead. You can also leverage cloud vendor support, and integrate with popular frameworks such as PyTorch and TensorFlow. 

Another popular benefit of cloud is that many vendors offer resources that can significantly save time. For example, you can use cloud AutoML tools to speed up some of your processes, and test out methods without investing too much time and costs. In this case, you also reduce risk by testing out your hypothesis. In short, cloud GPUs enable you to gain a higher level of scalability, save time, and avoid on-prem overhead.

Author Bio: Farhan Munir

With over 12 years of experience in the technical domain, I have witnessed the evolution of many web technologies, as well as the rise of the digital economy. I consider myself a life-long learner, and I love experimenting with new technologies. I embrace challenges with enthusiasm and outside-of-the-box mindset. I feel it is important to share your experiences with the rest of the world – in order to pass on the knowledge or let other folks learn from your mistakes or successes. In my spare time, I like to travel and photograph the world. YouTube

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Tips

AR/VR Trends in the Ecosystem – Part Two

AR/VR Trends

We continue to look into some of the AR/VR trends in the ecosystem, focusing on the main differences between developers and non-developers active in this space. You can view our first part of this article here.

22% of AR/VR non-developers are learning to code

15% of people involved in AR & VR as non-developers have zero knowledge of how to code, whereas 17% are actively coding to get things done. There is a large range of skills, but the biggest group here are those that are actively trying to build on their coding skills, with 22% of AR/ VR non-developers doing so. This indicates that no-code tools, whilst useful for getting things done, don’t cover the needs of more than 1 in 5 AR & VR practitioners who are subsequently learning to code to overcome these limitations. Despite the large amount of effort – and marketing – that has gone into positioning no-code tools as a solution for non-coders to get into AR & VR without worrying about writing code, a sizeable proportion of those who do get involved subsequently decide they need coding skills to realise their vision after all. This represents an opportunity for platforms aspiring to appeal to non-coders to create more functionality in these tools in order to capitalise on this under-served audience.

Amongst non-developers trying to improve their coding skills the most popular languages are Java (28%), C++ (26%), C# (25%) and JavaScript (22%). 17% don’t write code for their AR/VR projects, and 15% use a visual development tool. This indicates that non-developer AR & VR practitioners see the value in knowing how to code, but that they still want to create things while they’re learning.


AR/VR trends. Non-developers are actively learning Java, C++ and C#

Games is the most popular app category for developers and non-developers alike

AR & VR practitioners are primarily focused on creating entertainment and services products, but the primary focus is different for developers and non-developers. 77% of AR/VR developers are building products in the services category (such as business logistics products) whereas only 67% of non-developers are doing so. 

The most popular category for AR and VR practitioners is games & toys, with 52% of developers and 44% of non-developers working on products in this category. The picture is somewhat different for other entertainment products (such as moves and animation), with 65% of non-developers working on apps in this category and only 47% of developers operating here. This indicates that developers are using their coding experience to experiment and create games in AR and VR, whilst non-developers are inspired by other use cases.

Industrial applications (such as manufacturing and construction) for AR/VR are much less popular for both groups, but a larger proportion of developers are creating products in this category than non-developers. As AR and VR mature and stabilise, commercial applications will become more viable and we will see further innovations in industrial areas from developers and non-developers alike, but the pull of building entertainment apps will still be strong.


AR/VR trends. AR & VR practitioners mainly create entertainment & services products

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The Definitive Guide to Clean Code

guide to clean code

Clean code is vital in every aspect of software development as well as mobile app development. A code that’s clean means it’s easy to understand and to change. Writing clean code is paramount in creating a successful and maintainable product. What is clean is, of course, subject to every developer’s take. Here is the definitive guide to clean code.

There are many considerations when it comes to what constitutes a clean code as well as the best coding practices. Nonetheless, there’s no particular distinction. Again, it is subjective to what a developer considers clean, based on the product being built.

Why Clean Code?

Clean code is important to care since code almost is never written only once and forgotten. Most of the time, you and others have to work on the code. Understanding of the code leads to work efficiency. The code is not only intended for computers but humans as well. Writing clean code means minimizing maintenance expenses. 

Furthermore, it means making it much easier when fixing bugs as well as working on code for many years a lot more enjoyable. In essence, clean code means making life easier for those involved in the project. However, it doesn’t mean being obsessed with clean code. It has to provide value, thus do not spend countless to make it perfect. 

Anyway, clean code doesn’t occur on the first try. The key is adopting a mindset that always strives to enhance the code that you work on. Clean code is paramount since it makes or breaks a project. 

Guide to Clean Code Characteristics

1. It should be elegant. It has to be pleasing to read, making a reader smile in such a way that a well-crafted music box would or even a well-designed car. 

2. It is focused. Every module, class, and function exposes a one-minded attitude that’s free from distraction and pollution by surrounding details.

3. It’s taken care of. Someone took the time to keep it orderly and simple. Moreover, they have paid close attention to details, meaning that they cared. 

4. It doesn’t have duplication.

5. Runs all tests.

6. Minimize entities like methods, classes, functions, and others. 

Writing Clean Code

Clean code follows and embraces specific practices. The practices are what make code readable, more comprehensible, cleaner, and simple. Implementing some of the following could bring positive results. 

  • Make readable code. Never neglect its comprehensibility and readability.
  • Utilize meaningful names for variables, methods, and functions 
  • Review the code regularly.
  • Allow one method or function to perform just one task. 
  • Use comments for clarification.
  • Be consistent.

1. Make readable code. It’s always a possibility that another would get your code or else if you’re working in the same software development company then you can re-use the code. It is of the best interest of all to write code in such a way that makes it easy to read as well as understand. Using whitespace is the easiest way. It isn’t a must to write code that looks minified. Rather, use line breaks, empty lines, and indentation to make the code structure more readable.

2. Utilize meaningful names for variables, methods, and functions. Meaningful means names that are descriptive enough that others would be able to comprehend the purpose of the function, method, or variable. In simple terms, the name itself should suggest the method, function, or variable is used or what it carries. Nevertheless, descriptive names do not mean you’re free to use as many characters as you wish. Rule of thumb would be limiting names to three or four words.

3. Review the code regularly. Simply writing code is not enough. The next step would be to maintain its cleanliness. Review it regularly, clean it, and try improving it. Otherwise, it would become outdated. The same as with the device, to keep them in the best shape requires regular updates.

4. Allow one method or function to perform just one task. Let every method or function do just one task. This may be simple but could change everything and help you write clean code, or at least something cleaner than before. Moreover, functionalities and methods also become predictable.

5. Use comments for clarification. Regardless of how you struggle to come up with meaningful methods, variables, or functions, on its own, the code still would not be clean and understandable as it should be. There would be lines that require elaboration. Using comments via the code helps to fix this. Comments explain to other people why you are writing them and the reason why it’s written in that manner. This way, people would not have to make a guess. Comments should be used only when necessary and not for explaining bad code. Writing endless comments won’t help transform a code that’s poorly written into clean code. A bad code should be fixed by improving it, not adding instructions on how to use it. 

6. Be consistent. Stick to specific coding styles or practices and use it everywhere. It’s not a good idea to use different styles or practices in another project. It’s not as smooth and natural as it could be getting back to old code. Select coding practices set and stick to them in all projects. It would be much easier to return to an older code and proceed where you left off or to improve code. It’s a good idea to experiment on new coding practices. Furthermore, it could help look for better ways to do work. Nonetheless, it would be preferable to experiment with different practices on a separate project or exercise instead of on the main project.

Why Strive for Clean Code

Clean code is easy to understand and readable by everyone. Writing clean code is a critical mindset and it takes practice. Nobody is perfect, including you. There is always an opportunity to refactor or improve code when you review it after a few days or a few weeks. Therefore, begin writing a clean code as you can from the first line to work more on improving performance and logic. 

Pros

1. Better use of time. The first recipient of clean code is, of course, the programmer. Working on a project for months sometimes makes it easy to forget what you’ve done with the code. This is particularly true when a client comes back with changes. Making changes is easier with clean code lines. 

2. Easy debugging. Bugs are inevitable whether you write clean or dirty code. Clean code, however, makes for faster debugging, whatever your expertise or experience may be. Managers or colleagues could help and jump in to help you. 

3. Easier for new members of the team to get on board. Principles of clean code help to get onboard a new programmer. It helps to get a new programmer on board with clean code. No documentation is required to understand the code and a newbie could jump directly into it. This saves time on training and for a new member to adjust to the project. 

4. Much efficient maintenance. Maintenance doesn’t mean fixing bugs. Any project would need changes, new features to existing ones. In any software project, maintenance is the major cost. New features or additional ones always are an afterthought. Clean code makes fast and easy maintenance. 

5. Feel good. Clean code makes you feel good and confident to share it with others or with a client. You need not fear of breakdown and you would also be able to fix defects faster and this means you get to enjoy programming more. 

6. Easier to solve problems. The approach to problem-solving changes when writing clean code. Furthermore, software design and algorithm design become more intentional and elegant.

7. Communicated ideas. A clean code minimizes the change of misunderstandings when working with other developers and programmers. Furthermore, this also means lesser bugs to deal with in the future. 

Going Further with Clean Code

Majority of the basics in making clean code are common sense. Nonetheless, even with the most basic software, success requires paying attention and focusing on details. Products increasingly have more at stake than pride and money. In today’s age where we have autonomous vehicles on the road, the rules on code structuring and writing have gained relevance. Furthermore, more diligence should be applied to security-critical and safety systems. 

Industries like defense, automotive, aerospace, banking and finance, and medical device manufacture have stringent coding compliance standards. The code should meet industry standards. Source code could be scanned using static code analysis tools. Furthermore, the tools could also detect vulnerabilities in security, hidden defects, and ensure adherence to the best coding standards. 

Undoubtedly,  custom software development companies create products for their clients. Clients could do whatever they want with the software or product. They could use it internally or even sell it to somebody else. Most importantly however is that they could modify or extend it themselves. 

To be able to do this, they need a clean code. Thus, when building software, it is of utmost importance to deliver clean code at all times. Again, clean code truly matters. A clean and readable code enables continuity of the product. Furthermore, it makes it possible for another person to continue the work and enjoy doing so. The result is a lesser bug and easier to maintain software. 

Did you enjoy this guide to clean code? Is there anything else that a developer should consider?

About

Working as a manager in a software development company Tatvasoft.com. Vikash always has a passion to explore more about software  development and likes to share his bylines among relevant audiences. He is a full time blogger and you will find his informative bylines around many corners of blogs related to development. You can always find him on Twitter. 

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