Coding Guidelines, the Gist

Published on Jan 13, 2016 (updated Oct 3, 2023), filed under development. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

Coding guidelines govern how we write code.

Coding guidelines directly help consistency, and through that, indirectly, impact [code] usability, collaboration, and maintainability.

Coding guidelines are important.

The main ingredients of a coding guideline are: what (not) to do within a particular scope, examples, and an explanation.

Coding guidelines can deal with preference or with quality.

Coding guidelines can be descriptive, prescriptive, or both.

Coding guidelines must be communicated, enforced and reviewed.

And, there are some solid coding guidelines out there.

More: The Little Book of HTML/CSS Coding Guidelines (still brand-new, and still free)!

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Please share feedback: Interpret charitably, keep it friendly, but do be critical.)