It is time to tackle one of the key subjects of defensive coding practices—the use of constants. Why so many programmers ignore this important language feature, I am not sure, particularly in Java, C, and C++. Python makes it a little harder to use because the language lacks intrinsic support for constants, but with a simple-work around, Python can also… Continue reading "Zen of Defensive Programming: A word about constants"
After discussing the evils of ternary operators in my last installment, let’s extrapolate a little from that last example. Just as a reminder, I had exploded a single line of code into a much more readable and maintainable code block. It is probably best expressed in a simple, single rule. Only have one operation per line! To me, this almost… Continue reading "Zen of Defensive Programming: One operation per line"
In my previous installments, I showed you how a little bit of cosmetic change in the layout of your source code can dramatically improve readability and how tiny changes in your habits can truly affect overall code safety. In that vein, let’s continue and take this a little bit further by visiting Ternary Operators. One, or the other Ternary operators… Continue reading "Zen of Defensive Programming: Ternary Operators"
As I pointed out in my previous post, making your intentions clear is crucial in defensive programming. You never want anyone to guess what your code does. Instead, without ambiguity, you want to make sure everyone understands what your code doing. Here is another example of a coding practice that I see everywhere. Most seasoned programmers probably know immediately what… Continue reading "Zen of Defensive Programming: Clear Intentions"
Now that we’ve covered the preliminaries, it is time to dive into specific examples to illustrate what defensive programming habits you can build to improve your code. More importantly, I’ll also explain, why they are a good choice. Perhaps the single most important thing to remember is that source code is cheap! This takes us straight back to the readability… Continue reading "Zen of Defensive Programming: Source Code is Cheap"
We are now reaching the part that people usually associate with Defensive Programming: Code Safety. As I mentioned previously, often considered to be the only subject in defensive programming, as you have seen, it represents only a small subset of the subject as a whole. Code safety generally consists of two steps, typically: Assertions and Guard Clauses. Assertions Assertions are… Continue reading "Zen of Defensive Programming: Code Safety"
Your job is not to try and outsmart the compiler. Your job is to ensure you get the implementation right. The compiler’s job is to build the best possible executable code for it. Here are ways to make your code better and more compatible.
In the previous installment, I provided a preamble to outline what elements Defensive Programming encompasses. It is a lot more than the general coding mainstream typically associates with it. Some of the key tenets of Defensive Programming are readability, maintainability, compatibility, debugability, code safety, and security. Because they are the foundation for the techniques I will cover later on, please… Continue reading "Zen of Defensive Programming: Readability and Maintenance"
Even though it has been a generally accepted term for well over two decades now, it remains a bubblegum expression with countless interpretations. Depending on who you ask, you will get different answers. Allow me to indulge you for a moment on how I define Defensive Programming in my mind so that you can get a better sense of the aspects I will cover throughout this series.
When I started making computer games in 1983, an immense sense of wonder and exploration surrounded the discipline. It wasn’t a science, the way it is today, where entire college majors are dedicated to even specific disciplines within software and game development. We were mostly on our own, with a piece of hardware before us and very little documentation to… Continue reading "The Things We Did on the Atari ST"
