Good software development saves time and money. The answers to the
questions below give more information on the development process.
|
Developers are often not sure of a customer’s needs. If requirements are
unclear, incomplete or too general, there will be problems.
Requests from clients to add new features after the development has begun
can cause missed deadlines, frustration and a tarnished relationship
between role-players.
Developers often work against an unrealistic schedule, which has a drastic
effect on job results – with too little time and too much pressure,
problems are sure to arise.
If
inadequate testing is done on the software, bugs will be picked up only
later by an irate customer who might never employ the services of the
developer again.
Establish clear communication channels between developer and client. Make
use of group communication tools (like groupware, an intranet etc) where
possible and use continuous communication with end-users to clarify
communications.
Make
sure the client understands the consequences of changes they make might
have on the process.
Stick
with initial requirements and make sure they are clear, complete,
detailed, cohesive, attainable, testable and agreed to by all players.
Time
schedules should be realistic to allow adequate time for planning, design,
testing, bug fixing, re-testing, changes and documentation.
“Good
code” is bug-free, readable and maintainable code that actually works. Use
these guidelines to create good, clean and sensible code.
1.
Reduce or remove use of global variables.
2. Have expressive function and method names using both upper and lower
case, avoiding abbreviations, using as many characters as necessary to be
adequately descriptive; and being consistent in naming conventions.
3. Function and method sizes should be kept to a minimum – less than 100
lines of code is good, but under 50 lines is favourable.
4. Function descriptions should be made clear in comments preceding a
function's code.
5. Organise code for readability.
6. Utilise white space generously both vertically and horizontally.
7. Each line of code should contain a maximum of 70 characters.
8. Use one code statement per line.
9. Keep coding style consistent throughout a program.
10. With regards to adding comments, a rule of thumb is that there should
be at least as many lines of comments (including header blocks) as lines
of code.
11. All applications should include documentation of the overall program
function and flow.
12. Make extensive use of error handling procedures and status and error
logging.
|
