Software and the importance of consistency
The clock system at your work, the programs you use daily and the apps on your phone. All of these are controlled by software. A technology that sounds complicated to many, but plays a big role on a daily basis in our society and thus in the workplace.
What is software?
Software is a collective term for everything you install and use on your computer such as computer programs, operating systems and applications. These ensure that devices such as keyboards or monitors work correctly and this can vary from one company to another. Having programmers can therefore be interesting for companies with specific needs, but how do you keep up with development of your own software? Coding (writing programs) in a proper and sustainable way is very important for this
The experience of a professional
Elmar Eckstein is a software project manager and supports various companies with projects involving software. With his years of experience and interest in computers, he has chosen to start his own company that helps others by solving complex puzzles and problems for them. It is therefore a great challenge for him to unravel the Huijbregts software and strengthen it with a team of Huijbregts programmers. "The most important thing for this is having a good foundation”. What could be easier, more efficient and above all how can we make the software more user-friendly for our employees? This all comes back to developing the software where code is written for each component, but this can become very complex when different programmers each have their own writing style. "By creating a roadmap for writing code you remove this pitfall.” Therefore, it is good to establish coding guidelines.
Coding guidelines at Huijbregts Groep
Of course there are general coding guidelines, but the power lies in adapting these rules to your company. If this is done in the right way, it improves readability, understandability and applicability and reduces the necessary time investment for adaptations and renewals. Elmar likes to use the quote: "Code is like humor. When you have to explain it, it's bad.” By establishing and enforcing coding guidelines with the entire team, little to no further explanation is needed and higher-level software can be built. This takes time and dedication, as it is easy to fall back into old habits when things are busy. However, writing a "quick and dirty" program or code ends up taking more time, because the time invested in good code reduces the time to be spent on future innovations or additions due to the flexibility of sustainable code.
A summary of the best tips Elmar can pass along to software developers when writing code? “Keep the code readable, consistent and short. The factory has to deal with audits. If everything is clean and structured, you don't have to worry about that. The same goes for code. If it is structured, you don't have to worry during a vulnerability audit on the software.”