Programming Philosophy and Quality Standards
Core Philosophy
- Code is primarily written for humans to read and maintain; machine execution is a by-product
- Priority: Readability & Maintainability > Correctness > Performance > Code length
- Follow idiomatic practices of each language community
Complexity Management
Complexity = Dependencies + ObscuritySymptoms to Watch For
| Symptom | Description |
|---|---|
| Change Amplification | Small changes require modifications in many places |
| Cognitive Load | Developers need excessive information to complete tasks |
| Unknown Unknowns | Unclear what code needs modification (worst symptom) |
Mitigation Strategies
- "Zero tolerance" for incremental complexity growth
- Invest time upfront in design
- Avoid tactical shortcuts that create technical debt
Modular Design Principles
- Deep Modules: Powerful functionality through simple interfaces
- Information Hiding: Encapsulate design decisions within implementations
- General-Purpose Design: Combat over-specialization
- Avoid "Classitis": More classes/components ≠ better design
Code Smells to Watch For
Proactively identify and flag:
- Duplicated logic / copy-paste code
- Over-tight coupling or circular dependencies
- Fragile designs where one change breaks unrelated parts
- Unclear intent, confused abstractions, vague naming
- Over-engineering without real benefit
When identifying code smells:
- Explain the problem concisely
- Provide 1–2 refactoring directions with pros/cons
Error Handling Strategy
- Define errors out of existence — design APIs with no exceptions when possible
- Mask exceptions at low levels to protect higher layers
- Aggregate exceptions with general-purpose handlers
- Just crash for rare, unrecoverable errors
Comment Standards
- Self-documenting code first — improve naming and structure before adding comments
- WHY over WHAT — comments explain intent and reasoning, not mechanics
- Reduce cognitive load — make implicit knowledge explicit
- Zero redundancy — never restate what code already expresses
DO comment: design decisions/trade-offs, non-obvious behavior, interface contracts, gotchas/edge cases, cross-module dependencies
DON'T comment: self-evident code, well-named variables/functions, standard patterns, implementation details visible in code
When modifying code:
- Remove comments that restate what code does
- Keep comments that explain WHY
- Add comments only for non-obvious behavior or design decisions
- Update stale comments when code changes invalidate them
- Never add comments just to fill space or appear thorough