"Programming isn’t about what you know; it’s about what you can figure out." – Chris Pine
The evolution of the numerous trends in the software industry has made Coding one of the most significant skills for an individual developer to possess. Programming in the modern world is the ability of programmers and developers to focus on a specific task to accomplish the desired results and make it public to a wide range of public audiences to benefit from and utilize.
Acquiring the essential coding skills is fabulous for cracking most interviews and developing a bunch of cool projects that you can add to your resume or portfolio. However, what is the best programming practices that an individual must take note of in order to achieve the desired results and accomplish your goals effectively?
In this article, we will cover the six best Programming practices and tips that every programmer and data scientist should follow to achieve the best possible outcomes from coding. Before we get started with the article, I would recommend the viewers to check out the following article that covers the ten best free websites to learn to program.
1. Perfect Your Indentations And Make Use of Comment Lines:
Indentations are the spaces used in Python to differentiate between different blocks of code. In other programming languages such as Java, we make use of curly braces "{ }" for this purpose. Appropriately indenting your code plays a crucial role in the working of your projects. Make sure you keep track of your spacing accordingly. Usually, the tab button on the keyboard (or four spaces) is utilized for the indentation of your Python codes.
On the other hand, comment lines also play a crucial role in programming. Although the text you write within the comment lines does not affect your code blocks or program in any way, it plays a vital role in the development of large projects. With the help of code blocks, you can convey your thought process and ideas to other skilled developers and enthusiasts who want to look at your code to read and understand them better.
The other reason why you should use comment lines is so that when you revisit your own codes and code blocks after a long period of time, you might not be able to immediately catch up on why you performed a particular operation. During these instances, comment lines will often help you to recollect your thought process and ideas enabling you to recall the codes more quickly and effectively.
2. Simplification of Code:
When you are usually assigned a complex problem, the first idea you have will often result in a complicated solution with an overall lengthy and clumsy code block. Although that is not a totally negative aspect because you eventually figured out one of the approaches to solve the problem, it is important to realize that it is not enough. You need to dwell deep and explore more unique methods to obtain the solutions.
One of the ways you are tested in interviews in the technical or programming rounds is the way you can simplify your codes. The main purpose of trimming your codes and making them look more efficient is to reduce the overall time and space complexity of the problem. It is essential to remove additional and unnecessary code blocks to write better codes at a higher level for better performance with lesser hardware consumptions during the deployment stages.
To state an example, the more advanced you become in programming, try to limit the usage of unnecessary for loops. Instead, try to effectively use the classes, functions, and anonymous function to produce the best possible desired outcomes. You can feel free to check out my article on understanding advanced functions in Python with codes and examples from the link provided below.
Understanding Advanced Functions In Python With Codes And Examples!
3. Plan Your Approach:
Before you dive straight into the problem and get your hands dirty with some code, it is essential for the programming enthusiast to plan their approach accordingly. It is not always the best idea for you to jump into coding for a complex problem. It is usually a better proposition to effectively plan your course of action and dwell on the specifics.
While working on a problem or programming task that you feel can cause complications, it is often a good idea for you to write down the approach you plan for the particular problem. You can either choose to research more and gain a deeper understanding of how to tackle the task, or you can choose to try to work out the problem on paper by yourself. Doing so will help you have a direction of how to deal with the particular task rather than just blindly coding and hoping you get the correct answer.
Let us say you want to solve the problem of binary search. If you are a beginner in the world of programming, and you want to implement the code of binary search algorithm, it is essential for you to understand the intuitive understanding and working of this project. Without prior knowledge and a basic understanding of the pattern behind the scheme, it would be hard for you to understand the exact coding design. The article link provided below should be a fantastic starting point to understand the implementation of the binary search algorithm in Python.
4. Effective Debugging:
One of the essential aspects of programming is encountering and tackling errors. Effective debugging is a crucial aspect that every coder must get used to because no matter how good you are at solving programming blocks or questions, you will always enter a situation where you are stuck at the problem, and you don’t have an idea on how to proceed.
There are many ways of debugging your code. For a programmer, debugging may involve a few steps or methods to figure out the right solution to the particular task. You can Google search to figure out why the actual error occurred and visit a few websites to rectify your mistakes.
You could alternatively keep trying out numerous solutions to crack the answer by yourself. I would encourage the viewers to check one of my previous articles that covers the utilization of an in-built tool in Python for debugging your codes.
5. Develop Projects:
The best part about coding with any programming language is the large heaps of fabulous projects that you can develop with them. You can create a ton of unique and amazing projects to add to your portfolio or resume, or you can construct these projects just for fun to learn something new and gain further knowledge.
The amount of knowledge that you gain after the completion of a full-blown project from scratch is second to none. You gain so much experience and evolve as a developer and programmer after you start working on a ton of projects. You gain the ability to visualize the problems and find the appropriate solutions with the guidance of research, critical thinking, and improved programming skills.
If you are confused about what ideas you want to explore or what unique projects you want to construct, then I have a list of fifteen awesome Python and Data Science projects that you can develop. These projects will be useful to add your resume and portfolios for 2021 and beyond!
15 Awesome Python And Data Science Projects For 2021 And Beyond!
6. Code Everyday:
This point is undoubtedly the best programming practice among all the other points listed in this article. Practice is a significant step to succeed in most fields. Programming is one such field where the more you code, the more things you will be able to figure out. While coding, you are bound to make mistakes. The spirit of correcting these errors will lead to you not repeating them more often, leading to your overall development as a programmer.
Even if you had a busy day, try to make it a point to code for at least a few minutes each day. By coding every day and keeping up your practice schedule, you will enable your brain to not make repetitive mistakes and improve your overall efficiency. Apart from consistent improvement, you will also gain further knowledge and discover new methods and ideas to approach different types of problems.
We have already established that coding every day is extremely important for a programmer. No matter what level of coder you are. It does not matter if you are just a noob starting up with picking up some coding recently or you are a more advanced developer looking to build high-level projects. Coding every day must be treated as a daily activity inherent in your system. Check out the following article that uncovers the five reasons why every data scientist should code daily.
Conclusion:
"Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand." – Martin Fowler
Programming is undeniably one of the coolest and best skills to acquire in the current generation. There is a wide range of opportunities for each individual aspirant who is looking to move forward with coding skills to design a new career. However, some of the best programming practices must be utilized to make the optimal use of this skill.
In this article, we learned about some of the best programming practices that will help most programmers to improvise and improve their overall coding skills to become more talented and skilled developers. The key points that are mentioned in this article are crucial to achieving the most Success with any programming language that you choose to work with and utilize.
If you have any queries related to the various points stated in this article, then feel free to let me know in the comments below. I will try to get back to you with a response as soon as possible.
Check out some of my other articles that you might enjoy reading!
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Thank you all for sticking on till the end. I hope all of you enjoyed reading the article. Wish you all a wonderful day!
