Principles of Good Programming

The principles of good programming are closely related to principles of good design and engineering. The following programming principles have helped me over the years become a better programmer, and I believe can help any developer become more efficient and to produce code which is easier to maintain and that has fewer defects.

1. DRY - Don’t repeat yourself - This is probably the single most fundamental tenet in programming is to avoid repetition. Many programming constructs exist solely for that purpose (e.g. loops, functions, classes, and more). As soon as you start repeating yourself (e.g. a long expression, a series of statements, same concept) create a new abstraction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_repeat_yourself
2. Abstraction Principle - Related to DRY is the abstraction principle “Each significant piece of functionality in a program should be implemented in just one place in the source code.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_principle_(programming)
3. KISS (Keep it simple, stupid!) - Simplicity (and avoiding complexity) should always be a key goal. Simple code takes less time to write, has fewer bugs, and is easier to modify. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle
4. Avoid Creating a YAGNI (You aren’t going to need it) - You should try not to add functionality until you need it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAGNI
5. Do the simplest thing that could possibly work - A good question to ask one’s self when programming is “What is the simplest thing that could possibly work?” This helps keep us on the path towards simplicity in the design. http://c2.com/xp/DoTheSimplestThingThatCouldPossiblyWork.html
6. Don’t make me think - This is actually the title of a book by Steve Krug on web usability that is also relevant in programming. The point is that code should be easily read and understood with a minimum of effort required. If code requires too much thinking from an observer to understand, then it can probably stand to be simplified http://www.sensible.com/dmmt.html
7. Open/Closed Principle - Software entities (classes, modules, functions, etc.) should be open for extension, but closed for modification. In other words, don't write classes that people can modify, write classes that people can extend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Closed_Principle
8. Write Code for the Maintainer - Almost any code that is worth writing is worth maintaining in the future, either by you or by someone else. The future you who has to maintain code often remembers as much of the code, as a complete stranger, so you might as well always write for someone else. A memorable way to remember this is “Always code as if the person who ends up maintaining your code is a violent psychopath who knows where you live.” http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?CodeForTheMaintainer
9. Principle of least astonishment - The principle of least astonishment is usually referenced in regards to the user interface, but the same principle applies to written code. Code should surprise the reader as little as possible. The means following standard conventions, code should do what the comments and name suggest, and potentially surprising side effects should be avoided as much as possible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment
10. Single Responsibility Principle - A component of code (e.g. class or function) should perform a single well defined task. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_responsibility_principle
11. Minimize Coupling - Any section of code (code block, function, class, etc) should minimize the dependencies on other areas of code. This is achieved by using shared variables as little as possible. “Low coupling is often a sign of a well-structured computer system and a good design, and when combined with high cohesion, supports the general goals of high readability and maintainability” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupling_(computer_programming)
12. Maximize Cohesion - Code that has similar functionality should be found within the same component. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohesion_(computer_science)
13. Hide Implementation Details - Hiding implementation details allows change to the implementation of a code component while minimally affecting any other modules that use that component. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Hiding
14. Law of Demeter - Code components should only communicate with their direct relations (e.g. classes that they inherit from, objects that they contain, objects passed by argument, etc.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Demeter
15. Avoid Premature Optimization - Don’t even think about optimization unless your code is working, but slower than you want. Only then should you start thinking about optimizing, and then only with the aid of empirical data. "We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil" - Donald Knuth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Program_optimization
16. Code Reuse is Good - Not very pithy, but as good a principle as any other. Reusing code improves code reliability and decrease development time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_reuse
17. Separation of Concerns - Different areas of functionality should be managed by distinct and minimally overlapping modules of code. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_concerns
18. Embrace Change - This is the subtitle of a book by Kent Beck, and is also considered a tenet of extreme programming and the agile methodology in general. Many other principles are based on the concept that you should expect and welcome change. In fact very old software engineering principles like minimizing coupling are related directly to the requirement of making code easier to change. Whether or not you are an extreme programming practitioner, this approach to writing code just makes sense. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321278658

Today, I would like to take this opportunity reiterate that SOLID principle provide great benefits to the SharePoint development.

Lets review what SOLID stands for. The acronym SOLID is derived from the following phrases/principles in English:

Single Responsibility Principle: Each class should have a unique responsibility or main feature. In other words, one class should have only one reason that justifies performing changes on its source code. One consequence of this principle is that, in general, classes should have few dependencies on other classes/types.

Open Closed Principle: A class must be open for extension but closed for modification. That is, the behavior of a class should be able to be extended without requiring modifications on its code.

Liskov Substitution Principle: Sub-types must be able to be replaced by their base types (base class or interface). This stems from the fact that the behavior of a program that works with abstractions (base classes or interfaces) should not change because a specific implementation is replaced with another one. Programs should refer to abstractions, and not to implementations. We will see later that this principle is closely related to the Dependency Injection and substitution of some classes for others providing they meet the same interface.

Interface Segregation Principle: The class interface implementers should not be obliged to implement methods that are not used. This means the class interfaces should be specific depending on who consumes them and should therefore be split into different interfaces, and no large interfaces should be created. Classes should expose separate interfaces for different clients/consumers with differing interface requirements.

Dependency Inversion Principle: Abstractions should not depend on details; the details should depend on

abstractions. Direct dependencies between classes should be replaced by abstractions (interfaces) to allow top-down designs without the need to design the lower levels first.

Other key design principles

• The component design must be highly cohesive: do not overload the components by adding mixed or non-related functionality. For example, avoid mixing data access logic with business logic belonging to the Domain model. When functionality is cohesive, we can then create assemblies with more than one component and place them in the appropriate layers of the application. This principle is therefore closely related to the "N-layer" pattern and to the „Single Responsibility Principle‟.
• Keep the cross-cutting code abstracted from the application-specific logic: the cross-cutting code refers to horizontal aspect code, such as security, operations management, logging, instrumentation, etc. The combination of this type of code with specific implementation of the application can lead to designs that, in the future, are difficult to extend and maintain. The AOP (Aspect Oriented Programming) principle is related to this.
• Separation of Concerns: dividing the application in different parts and minimizing the overlapping functionalities between such parts. The key factor is to minimize the interaction points to achieve high cohesion and low coupling. However, separating functionality in the wrong boundaries can lead
  to a high degree of coupling and complexity among the characteristics of the system.
• Don‟t Repeat Yourself (DRY): the "intention" must be specified in only one part of the system. For example, in terms of an application design, a specific functionality should be implemented in only one component; the same functionality should not be implemented in other components.
• Minimize the top-down design (Upfront Design): design only what is necessary, do not perform "over engineering" and take into account the agile YAGNI principle („You Ain‟t Gonna Need It‟).

Next time you design SharePoint project, ask yourself a question: 

Is my application design and architecture SOLID?