How to implement coding standards in your organization

Coding standards are a set of guidelines and best practices designed to ensure that your code is consistent and readable, making it easier for other developers to understand and maintain the codebase. Implementing coding standards in your organization can improve code quality, reduce errors, and enhance collaboration among developers.

Keep reading to understand further why coding standards are important and how to implement them in your organization.

Why are coding standards important?

Before knowing how to implement coding standards, let’s understand why they are so important. Coding standards provide several benefits, including:

• Better code quality.?When following coding standards, developers can write more secure, efficient, maintainable, and consistent code. This can lead to fewer errors and better overall performance.
• More consistency across projects.?Following coding standards ensures that your team writes all code in a consistent way across projects. This makes it easier for developers to maintain code quality, switch between tasks, and work together.
• Improved readability and maintainability.?Coding standards can make code more readable and easier to maintain. When your team writes code in a consistent manner, it’s easier for other developers to understand and modify, saving them time and reducing the probability of introducing errors.
• Faster development.?Following coding standards can help speed up development. When developers follow a set of guidelines, they can write code more quickly and with fewer errors. Plus, when code is written in a consistent way, it’s easier to identify and fix issues.
• Better scalability.?Coding standards help to make code more scalable, making adding new features or updating existing ones easier. Consistent coding practices also make it easier to maintain the code as the codebase grows.
• Higher collaboration and communication among developers.?When everyone follows the same guidelines, it’s easier to understand and modify code written by others, making it easier to work together and share code.
• Help with compliance.?If your organization has to comply with certain regulations and achieve certifications (e.g.,?PCI DSS?or?ISO/IEC 27001), coding standards can ensure that your code meets the standards.

How to implement coding standards

Now that you understand the benefits of coding standards, it’s time to implement them if you want to develop high-quality software. Here are some tips for implementing coding standards in your organization.

1. Choose the right coding standards

Many coding standards are available, and choosing the right one for your organization is essential. Consider factors such as the programming language you’re using, the type of software you’re developing, and the size of your development team.

Your coding standards should be specific, clear, and easy to understand, but there is no need to reinvent the wheel. You can easily adapt already existing standards. To help you get started, we selected some of the most popular coding standards for JavaScript, Python, and C#. Check them out:

• 4 JavaScript style guides
• 3 Python style guides
• 3 C# style guides

If you decide to implement an internal coding standard, you must create a document outlining the standards and guidelines your team will follow. It’s essential to involve all team members in defining the standards to ensure everyone is on board with the guidelines. Don’t forget your standard should include guidelines on the following:

• Code formatting (e.g., indentation, line length)
• Naming conventions (e.g., variables, classes, functions)
• Code organization (e.g., file structure, commenting)
• Best practices (e.g., error handling, security)

2. Communicate your coding standards and train your team

Once you’ve defined your coding standards, you must communicate them to your development team. Ideally, developers were already involved in selecting or creating the standards, but you’ll still need to communicate them to new joiners, for example.

All developers on your team must understand the standards and be committed to following them. There will also be a learning curve if they have not used coding standards. Provide them with resources such as guidelines, best practices, and code examples, and encourage them to practice writing code that follows these standards.

• Provide clear guidelines.?Make sure that the guidelines for coding standards are clear and easy to understand. Create a document outlining the standards, provide examples and explanations to help team members understand the guidelines, and hold meetings to answer any questions the team might have.
• Use hands-on exercises.?These exercises can help your team understand how to apply the coding standards in practice. As such, you should provide opportunities for team members to practice applying the standards and integrating them into their workflow. You can also use a workshop, online courses, or other forms of training.
• Provide feedback and support. Providing feedback and support to your team as they learn to apply coding standards will improve their adoption and reduce errors.

3. Enforce coding standards by using automated tools

Enforcing coding standards can be challenging, but it’s crucial for maintaining consistency across projects. Besides training, you can use code reviews and automated tools to help your organization follow your defined coding standards.

Static code analysis tools like?Codacy Quality?can give you control over your standards. For example, you can customize your rule sets to align your team’s code quality standards and remove false positives. You can also define your quality threshold and make sure teams and projects publish healthy and consistent code.

Codacy Quality allows you to make sure your code quality is standardized across all teams and projects. With the organization coding standards feature, you can define and manage coding patterns in multiple repos simultaneously with just a few clicks. As a result, you gain back time to focus on what you do best.

4. Monitor adherence to coding standards

It is important to monitor adherence to the coding standards regularly. You can do this through code reviews, automated tests, or other monitoring forms.?

By monitoring adherence to the coding standards, you can identify issues early on and take corrective action. For example, it might be the case where your development team needs more training or the standards needs to be adjusted.

5. Continuously review and improve your coding standards

You should continuously review and update your coding standards. As your organization grows and changes, your coding standards should evolve to meet your changing needs and remain relevant.?

You can review your standards when starting a new project, when making significant changes to an existing project, or when a new technology or best practice emerges that may affect your standards. But don’t forget to always involve all team members in updating the coding standards to make sure everyone is on the same page and agrees with the changes.

Conclusion

Coding standards are an essential part of software development. They can help improve the quality of your code, make it more readable and maintainable, speed up development, and ensure consistency across projects. By following coding standards, developers can create better software that is easier to modify, debug, and maintain.

While defining and maintaining coding standards can be daunting, tools like Codacy Quality can make the process much easier. Codacy Quality can help you ensure your codebase adheres to your coding standards, identify potential issues early on, and streamline your code review process. By leveraging tools like Codacy Quality, you can take the first step toward building a more efficient and high-performing development team.?Start a free 14-day trial today!?

?[Webinar] Compliance matters: Keep your coding standards high across teams and projects

Join?André Pires, Product Manager at Codacy, in discussing all about coding standards and how they can help your team improve your code quality and stay compliant with rigorous industry standards.

Join us in our Webinar?Compliance matters: Keep your coding standards high across teams and projects. See you there!

?When: April 3rd, 2023, 5 pm WEST / 11 am CDT

?Where:?online?–?free registration needed