How can you balance Java best practices and project deadlines?

1 Prioritize the most important best practices

Not all best practices are equally important or relevant for every project. Some best practices are essential for the functionality, security, and reliability of your code, while others are more optional or subjective. For example, using proper indentation, commenting, and naming conventions are crucial for readability and consistency, while using lambda expressions, streams, and generics are more dependent on your preferences and project requirements. Therefore, you should prioritize the most important best practices that have a direct impact on your code quality and performance, and focus on them first. You can also use tools like code analyzers, formatters, and linters to automate some of these tasks and save time.

3 Apply agile and iterative development

Agile and iterative development are methodologies that emphasize collaboration, feedback, and adaptation. They can help you balance Java best practices and project deadlines by breaking down your project into smaller and manageable units, delivering value incrementally, and responding to changes quickly. For example, you can use Scrum, Kanban, or XP to organize your work into sprints, backlogs, or stories, and use tools like Jira, Trello, or GitHub to track your progress and issues. You can also use test-driven development (TDD), continuous integration (CI), or continuous delivery (CD) to ensure your code quality and reliability, and use tools like JUnit, Maven, or Jenkins to automate your testing and deployment.

4 Seek feedback and review

Feedback and review are essential for improving your Java code quality and following best practices and standards. They can help you identify and fix errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities, as well as learn new skills, techniques, or perspectives. You can seek feedback and review from different sources, such as your peers, mentors, clients, or users. For example, you can use code review, pair programming, or code walkthroughs to share your code with other developers and get their suggestions, insights, or critiques. You can also use user testing, surveys, or analytics to get feedback from your end users and measure their satisfaction, engagement, or behavior.