Technical debt has a profound impact on engineering. Frequent consequences of these problems are delays in launching new features, high error rates, staff turnover, etc.
Professionals may go through the product, but the code remains and continues to be modified. As a result, the solutions applied are unrelated to the initial motivations.
To ensure the application’s quality will be preserved, we believe that organizations must adopt and maintain standards of excellence. In this regard, the code’s design brings fundamental guidelines for the health of the solution.
According to Zup’s Director of Technology and Education, Alberto Souza:
“Code design is the process through which someone develops code in a way that meets the functional requirements while also ensuring someone else can maintain the code in the easiest possible way.”
Although it reduces maintenance efforts to a minimum, it is still essential to consider constant improvements. Codes age similarly to almost everything in nature: the new replaces the old. Therefore, regularly rejuvenating the code increases its lifespan and accuracy.
Key points about Code Design:
- The code is the automation of business desires.
It’s important to understand what is relevant and how we can express such understanding through one or more applications. Building a clear business vision is essential to maximizing the chances of success for what we build.
- The complexity of the code needs to be proportional to the complexity of the problem.
The practices adopted to address business challenges need to meet what we see on the software growth horizon. In other words, a script for a data transformation proof of concept that was used only once should be less complex than the code of a task scheduler in an operating system that will be used for many years.
- The code needs to favor the ability to test.
It is vital to have multiple tests that can uncover bugs. Find the type that makes the most sense for your project – manual, automated, fuzzing, contract testing, etc. – and tailor the quality parameter to your application.
- The code needs to facilitate understanding.
Understanding is the first step to making the following steps easier and even to ensuring a project has a long life. There are several techniques and materials that aim to achieve this goal, such as clean code. We also apply Cognitive-Driven Development (CDD), a methodology developed at Zup. It is a strategy to reduce cognitive overload during development by improving the code’s design. It can be an efficient alternative for understanding your project.
- Refactoring to keep up with the deepening of the model is essential to maintain the software’s health levels.
- A good code needs to focus on security.
Designing code while also considering security guidelines to prevent vulnerabilities in the code is a fundamental guideline for the health of an application. It is essential to be aware of the ten most recurring vulnerabilities in an application and how to avoid them, as well as have automated tools to prevent such security breaches. Security must be part of the coding culture, and DevSecOps can be helpful in this regard.
