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If you read other people's source code, how do you approach the code? What patterns are you looking for (datatypes, loops, use of control flow, ... )? How long can you read other people's code without getting bored? What is the most exciting patterns that you have discovered so far?
At first, I ignore the urge to change the code. Which is sometimes hard to do. But understanding first and change later saves yourself a lot of nasty "learning experiences."
Next if the format is bad, reformat. Use a code formatter if you have one. This is because you tend to look at the indentation and if that is bad, your understanding of the code is also questionable.
Then, if there are complex datastructures, I like to draw a little diagram. The challenge here is keep it as simple as possible. Large diagrams are fun on the wall, but most of the time, they are to cumbersome to look at. So it is wasted time.
If you finally understand what a piece of code does, write a comment. This is essential, because else you won't understand it the next time you are here.
The following step is to create unit tests. Now you can not only test the code, but you can also test your understanding of the code.
Last, if you understand it al and you know it can (and need to be) better, change it. But be sure to run the tests. Unless you are paid by each solved bug.
A hip new term for this is Code Spelunking.
Aside from the obvious "work from the top down" general approach, it depends on why I'm reading it: code review, trying to understand a bit of avaialable code to adapt for my own use, trying to learn a new technique, etc.
It also depends heavily on the language. If it is an OOPL, I'll probably do something like this:
Look first for the primary class relationships and try to understand the primary responsibility of each class.
Look at the interactions between classes to see how they collaborate.
Look at the interfaces of the key classes to see what "services" they offer their collaborators.
Look inside the non-trivial methods if it's important to understand how they are working instead of what they are responsible for.
thanks, if I understand correctly, first step is to identify the context, second identify API's, and place the API's in context. I just realize it is a bit like looking at a building or piece of art, you could focus on the material used, or the function of parts, try different perspectives, judge how parts fit in the whole... there is a nice piece of the process of discovery: here - how mathematicans think
It all depends on what type of code you are reading. Is it a web app, a service, a desktop app? When I do start reading other's code I usually start looking for design patterns used. Or for the framework-specific things. But again this is if you are doing a review. If you are reading for your own interest and to learn something there really is no answer - you should read and understand the code thoroughly.
Pick an item you understand in the final product and see how it is put together. If you've got the unit tests then they are a great help.
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I'm fairly new to Java but love it so far. My question is, i'm a little unfamiliar with Classes. I know what they are, and generally how to work with them as I'm not brand new to programming, but I would like a professionals opinion.
I'm currently writing a small multi threading program to launch parallel power shell sessions by spawning cmdlines for target machines in a csv, capture the output and write to a csv.
Should I put everything into one class and breakup the logical operations to methods within the class and string them together? Or should I make a Thread executor class, cmdline powershell class, a csv operations class, etc (My thought behind that was to allow code reuse, but that'll be kindove time consuming and in my mind impractical since i'd have to specify the datatypes and return types for new situations in the future).
Any help would be appreciated!
There is no "way" so to speak,
It's all your preference.
But just don't cram everything into one class.
Generally, you want to be as neat as possible.
In the future, you will thank yourself for using different classes.
If your project grows, and a bug is born, you don't want to be looking through one very long class, but instead simple broken up pieces.
Let's say you have these classes:
GPS,
Main,
Search
And someone reports a bug with the GPS not working.
Instead of looking everywhere saying, where did I put the GPS code,
it's right in front of your eyes!
I've went to everyones links and found the info very helpful. So far I've come up with this.
Make a package that contains classes that perform a specific set of tasks (also don't make utility kits that are very general). The package in my case would be called com.jt.threads.powershell or something.
Keep classes small and breakup the program by conceptual types. (ie. data reading and writing operations on a filesystem should be in one class with the focus on helping the package perform a certain task or range of tasks.)
Methods within classes should focus on getting, setting, changing the objects attributes or adding logic.
The program entry point should join it all together, except in the case of large applications, in which case an interface should be used (still learning about them).
With true OOP, i don't think it's a good idea to create code for reuse, unless it's supporting a range of very very very similar tasks (that way if I have to change something, it won't break other classes outside of the package).
Thank you all! I feel a lot better knowing that I'm on the right track. I was worried that by NOT making code reusable in a lot of situations that I was doing something wrong. I started programming in Python 6 months ago for my job, but I totally ignored classes and I want to have good programming habits and apply OOP as best I can going forward! Python is definitely convenient and a great starter language, but I wish I learnt Java first so I can get a solid grasp on OOP.
There is no “The way” to organize or group classes. Anything goes as long as it works as expected and you understand what you write.
As a Programmer you only need to,
1. Know and understand what you write.
2. Know and understand what other Programmer as written.
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I am curious to know the current coding style for java. My team is forcing to use {} for one liner if statements. Although we used to have braces for one liners current java source code does not use braces for one liner if statements anymore and I myself am inclined towards the same.
Python dropped braces altogether.
However I do not see any particular style guide in 2019.. The oracle doc still refers to the 1997 coding style.
What would be correct coding or is it something more to do with developer's preference?
foo();
if (condition)
doSomething();
bar();
vs
foo();
if (condition) {
doSomething();
}
bar();
Edit 1: As Kartik mentioned we can write one liners like this as well:
if (condition) doSomething();
For me, it as a developers preference and I am ok with both the approaches but in my current team some developers are of opinion not using braces is a BAD coding practice. I saw the java source code and found in many places braces are omitted. So, I don't believe this to be true. As for google coding style, it was also there for many years and many people continue to use the same. But for new code are there any new guidelines?
Edit 2: This question is marked as opinion based and put on hold
I want to clarify that I am NOT looking for opinions. I am more looking for standard guidelines which Oracle (or java open source communities) might have put forward regarding best practices as of today (2019). Most practices java/google are very old dating back to 1996 and may not be relevant today. Even if there is some reference in some new books and some can share those details it will be very helfpul
I think one of the commonly used style guides for java is the one from Google, see here.
It says:
Braces are used with if, else, for, do and while statements, even when the body is empty or contains only a single statement.
But the real general answer here is: only use such input as hint what to do. For you: sit down with your peers, and check out what you like, and then write that down, and go with it. Like: our team decided to use the google style, but to make subtle changes to it here or there.
And then make sure that your tooling supports your preferred style. One of the reasons why we selected "google style" is the fact that you get formatting templates for eclipse, IntelliJ, and even SlickEdit.
I agree that there are no "prominent" style guides for Java8 (and newer) elements, such as lengthy stream statements. That is where "decide with your team what you want" comes in again. We decided for example that
stream()
.filter(...)
.whatver
each go on their own line (one reason for that is the fact that IntelliJ will then give you the return type of each line right there while editing, what I find extremely helpful when working with streams).
Write as you like. I prefer brackets.
They help navigate the code.
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My team uses Scrum and we have code review (using Fisheye crucible), but from my observation working together for 2 years is that they care less about good code quality.
I am trying to learn code quality from reading Clean Code, and try to apply things I learn in code and by giving code review. I also had one sharing session on Clean code with my team and hoped that we all follow a good coding standard. Except me and another guy in the team, the rest are not interested in good coding practice nor the term Clean code at all.
I sense a great conflict during code review if I am the one who review my team mate's code. The is one guy that making the conflicts are so badly which I am getting tired of reviewing his code now, eventually I try to avoid a heated discussion that leads to nowhere.
Below are several examples in the my review for his code:
Asking him to create a variable with meaningful name for a magic number that was randomly put in code.
Asking to remove hard-coded values.
Asking to remove duplicate codes (for a particular business logic) in almost everywhere in one class, by asking him to create a method for those duplicate code instead (this time he commented in my code review that: "I could not do it because of this and that, why don't you just do it instead of asking me?" I told him I am a reviewer and not an author of the code and as per our standard the reviewer should not modify the code as she/he likes.)
He used static variables a lot, without any particular reasons. Even in unit tests, public static variables are declared many in the test classes. So I reviewed and put my comment asking to remove static variables instead; or if it is really needed then I suggest to have a #AfterClass method to destroy static variables when not being used (I said it's good for GC). He commented back, kind of: "Having these static variables won't cause any problems to GC for just running unit tests. Why he has to care for GC in unit tests?" and refused to change. My initial intention was that not only in unit tests, but also in production code too that we should not declare static variables as whatever we want.
His method is generally very long, contains of different logic putting in one method. Similar to one unit test method, generally just have two unit tests: one for failed case and one for successful case. So the failure conditions are all putting in one method and the rest are for successful case being put into one method. So when I reviewed, I asked for splitting each possible business logic for testing in one smaller method, and he refused to do so a few times.
My questions are:
I think he gets offended or I get him wrong?
Is there any of above examples I gave wrong comments?
Did I step on wrong line that I really offended him without me knowing?
When you have similar situation for 2 years without getting code review process improved, what would you do?
I tend to avoid reviewing his code and instead work on other stuffs on the board. Is that okay?
I do care for code quality as much as I can within my knowledge, it's a way to maintain a good product and also help myself to learn and improve technically. But getting into heated discussions and sometimes I feel annoyed for his comments are something I wish to avoid. But avoiding this situation for long is not a good solution I think.
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which coding style is better and what are the types of people in image programmers will know
which is better as a good programmer?
First writing curly braces after if statements - or curly braces on new line after if statement?
if(condition){
}
if(condition)
{
}
Although this is very much a matter of style, the "Java way" of doing it has always been to put the opening brace on the same line as the statement it is attached to. So
if(condition) {
}
is the suggested way of doing it. Who suggests this? Well, Sun did (and now Oracle maintains that page, too). And Google does.
I'd say that it's up to you to decide, which one suits you best. Also, from what I know, some languages are encouraging to use specific style:
Java preffers camelCase and
if (true) {
}
C# PascalCase and
if (true)
{
}
However, it's important to keep style consistent in project. If you mix styles in single file / project, that's bad practice.
As other has written, there are certain standards that promote
if (whatever) {
}
as the "better" solution.
In that sense, "better" actually means:
the majority of Java programmers is used to this style
therefore, for the majority of programmers, it will be easier to read code that is following the common styles
or vice versa: if you deviate from the common standards, everybody reading your source code will burn unnecessary brain cpu cycles to accustom to that deviating style
(and keep in mind: normally, source code is written "once"; but read maybe hundreds or thousands of time. thus "wasting brain cpu" is a serious issue)
But, on the other hand, the answer is: it depends.
My personal experience is: if you are following a consistent style, then the details of that style do not matter too much. You see, if your company has its own style conventions; and everybody is following those ... then you have to adapt. Period. And honestly: it is not that hard. I was asked to use all kinds of style conventions. And you simply adapt. It might take some time, but in the end, you will have no problems reading/writing code that maybe says
if (whatever)
{
So, when your team says: for our own good reasons, everybody has to use that second style, then that's it.
But if you are working on open source, or you are the person defining the style to use - then simply stay close to the "official" conventions from Oracle.
And final note: code formatting is a tooling question. You make sure that you specify your style convention so that your IDE can enforce it. Then you are even free to use your very personal style - just reformat source upon checkout; and turn back into "other peoples style" prior checkin to you source code repository.
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I have a Java Project I have been working hard on for about 6 months (3 months hardcore) and it is around 8000 lines of code... However I have gotten much better then I was 6 months ago, and I have multiple classes that are full of messy, unorganized, and uncommented code.
Although my new code is much better, I often find myself lost when looking at some of my older code. Do you think it is worth the time to rewrite about 4000-5000 ish lines of code, that I think are not written well? I do not have much time to work, only about 3 hours a day max.
I don't know if I should accept that my old code was old, and just continue on, or if I should go back, completely rewrite most of my program and then have a easier path in the future. Or maybe there is a different solution? Any thoughts? Thanks! I really appreciate the help because currently I don't know if I should proceed knowing I may be just wasting time.
Yes!
Having been in the same position (more than once sadly) I can say that it is well worth it - if you come back to one of your projects in 6 months time - you'll look at that old code and wonder what the heck you were trying to do. Also, you may want to send examples of your work to prospective employers at some point, and if they look at code which is sloppy - it doesnt look good. Worse yet, if they look at the code and see two wildly different styles (sloppy vs neat) they will think you plagiarised the code.
You will also (most likely) find that rewriting those 4k lines of code, results in far fewer lines of code. Or, that it results in code that is far more reusable. Try to think about DRY when you recode (dont repeat yourself) if you use something more than once, make it a function or a class.
Also, you will save LOTS of time in the future when you come to extend/change your work.
Sure go for the rewrite. You are still learning and probably learned a lot since you first started. Now that you know more about programming and have a better idea of what the software requirements are you can probably make it much better.
Having said that, this is just a project for fun. In the business world, you would have to consider the time it takes to do a rewrite in terms of money spent and time and money wasted not adding new features etc and compare that with the amount of money wasted trying to maintain the old system to keep it running. Only if it's cheaper overall to do a rewrite will most businesses go for it.
It may be very beneficial as the other posters have mentioned. You should take this opportunity to write JUnit tests for all your new code (if you're not already doing so), as this will help you write well-encapsulated and decoupled code. Two really good books for reference are Refactoring by Martin Fowler (http://martinfowler.com/books/refactoring.html), and Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael Feathers (http://www.amazon.ca/Working-Effectively-Legacy-Michael-Feathers/dp/0131177052).
Have fun!
This is a common question asked by many developers, and it leads to other more important questions that will aid you on your journey to become a better programmer.
Ask yourself:
do i use javadocs in my code?
do i often repeat code?
do i use established patterns and stick with them for the entire project?
The reason i ask is that the answer to these questions will effect how readable your new code will be in the future even if you do rewrite your code.
A good excercise that will prove very useful in the real world is: can i optimize the existing code without rewriting it? this is a much sort after skill if ever you were to program professionally.