Clean Code

As a developer, you should be able to write code which works – of course!

A lot of developers write bad code nonetheless – even though the code works. Because « working code » is not the same as « clean code »!

This course teaches you how to write clean code – code that is easy to read and understand by humans, not just computers!

In this course, you’ll learn what exactly clean code is and, more importantly, how you can write clean code. Because if your code is written in a clean way, it’s easier to read and understand and therefore easier to maintain.

Because it’s NOT just the computer who needs to understand your code – your colleagues and your future self needs to be able to understand it as well!

In this course, we’ll dive into all the main « pain points » related to clean code (or bad code – depending on how you look at it) and you will not just learn what makes up bad code but of course also how to turn it into clean code.

Specifically, you will learn about:

• Naming « things » (variables, properties, classes, functions, …) properly and in a clean way

• Common pitfalls and mistakes you should avoid when naming things

• Comments and that most of them are bad

• Good comments you might consider adding to your code

• Code formatting – both horizontal and vertical formatting

• Functions and how to limit the number of function parameters

• How to write clean functions by focusing on « one thing »

• How levels of abstraction help you split functions and keep them small

• How to write DRY functions and avoid unexpected side effects

• Avoiding deeply nested control structures with guards and by extracting functionality into functions

• Errors and error handling as a replacement for if-statements

• Objects & data containers/ data structures and why that differentiation could matter

• Cohesion and how to write good (small!) classes

• The Law of Demeter and why it matters for clean code

• What the SOLID principles are and why they matter when it comes to writing clean code

• Much more!

This course is a compilation of common patterns, best practices, principles and rules related to writing clean code.

In this course, you’ll learn about a broad variety of concepts, rules, ideas, thoughts and principles and by the end of course, you’ll have a good idea of what to keep in mind when it comes to writing clean code.

This is not a design patterns or general patterns course though – we will entirely focus on patterns, rules and concepts that help with writing clean code specifically.

All these concepts and rules are backed up by examples, code snippets and demos. And to ensure that you get the most out of this course, and you don’t just learn a bunch of theory which you forget soon after, there also are plenty of challenges for you to apply what you learned!

This course uses Python, JavaScript and TypeScript for code examples but you don’t need to know these languages to follow along and get a lot out of the course. In addition, the course does not focus on a specific programming style or paradigm (like functional programming, object-oriented programming etc) but instead covers general concepts and techniques which will always apply.

What are the course prerequisites?

• Basic programming knowledge (no matter which language) is required!

• You don’t need to know any specific programming language or programming paradigm to follow along

• NO prior experience with writing clean code is required