Programming isn’t all about knowing syntax and writing code that complies successfully – it’s also about writing code in a structured way that makes it easier for developers to think about complex logic.
When I first started programming, my only concern was writing code that would run. When I started my first internship and got my first look at professional code, I realized that writing code was much, much more complex than I originally thought. The magnitude of enterprise code bases are overwhelmingly complex and take a weeks, or even months, to fully grasp. The process of understanding a complex code base was alleviated when I came across code that was structured in a meaningful way. Luckily, I was apart of a team who prioritized writing clean code; from the file structure and naming conventions for files and folders, to the building patterns for object oriented programming, it was all important to ensure that the code base remained robust and easy to understand.
For my capstone project, I’m implementing much of what I learned from my internships to ensure that I write good code that will be easy for my team to understand. I plan to maintain a logical file structure with good naming conventions for all the files, classes, and methods in my code. I’m currently working on setting up CRUD operations for user accounts using Typescript with object oriented programming while ensuring that I’m using encapsulation, inheritance, composition, and polymorphism effectively.
Another trick I learned in my internship was using decorators to extend the behavior of a class. For example, I plan to use decorators for authentication and authorization for when the user accesses certain things in the application.
Writing clean code is just as important as writing code that runs, especially when working with a team or working on a long term project. Clean code improves code readability, which in turn improves productivity when a new team member joins the team or when refactoring is needed.
