Our Clean Code Journey
Over these 10 days, we've explored the most important Clean Code building blocks. I hope that I've both reminded you of this important topic and clarified some misunderstandings. In many conversations, you often hear that Clean Code is only about readability or good names. Frequently, compact code examples are shown with the question of which variant is "cleaner."
But now we know: It's about much more. Clean Code is a comprehensive collection of principles, methods, rules, and technical aspects that lead to maintainable, robust, pragmatic, and reliable software. Beyond the basic but crucial aspects like meaningful names, small functions, and classes, there is profound knowledge from the software engineering field.
The Only Way to Be Fast
Clean Code means software development according to software engineering standards and guidelines – exactly what is often omitted when in a hurry. All too quickly we forget this and ultimately only become slower as a result. As the father of Clean Code, Robert C. Martin, so aptly put it:
"The only way to go fast, is to go well."
I have experienced this truth several times in my career.
The Importance of Discipline
In software development, there are numerous methods: SCRUM, Code Reviews, Pair Programming, TDD, and many more. The inventors of these methods carefully thought through how, when, and under what conditions they work. We know them all, and actually they are all easy to understand – and yet they often don't work as expected in the end.
Why is that? The answer lies in discipline. If the rules, steps, assumptions, and principles that a method author devised are not followed, the method will not work. That's inevitable. As soon as we start rushing, choosing workarounds, and ignoring the rules of the game, we become slower, not faster.
The Dangerous Excuses
This also applies to Clean Code. When we start thinking:
"The size of this function is still acceptable. I don't have time now." "I can't find a better name, I'll leave it as is for now." "I don't need to split this into two classes right now, it's fine." "This error probably will never occur." "Here I can safely return null."
Then firstly, we're not working according to Clean Code principles, and secondly, we shouldn't be surprised that software development is expensive, time-consuming, and sometimes annoying. That's our own fault. All technical debt eventually comes back – and with interest.
A Personal Confession
I hope I've been able to make you embrace my favorite topic. I've been programming for about 20 years, and those who know me know that I enjoy it the whole time and always work in a solution-oriented way. I owe this to self-discipline and adherence to the rules of the game. Methodical and structured work brings success.
This doesn't mean becoming inflexible or non-agile – quite the opposite. It enables you to meet commitments within planned timeframes and remain reliable. I wish for you to experience this in your work as well.
Our 10-Day Journey Through Clean Code
Day 1: Meaningful Names
Day 2: Functions
Day 3: Comments
Day 4: Formatting
Day 5: Objects
Day 6: Error Handling
Day 7: Third-Party Code
Day 8: Tests
Day 9: Concurrency
Day 10: Systems
It was a wonderful 10-day adventure.
