Whenever one learns a new coding language, it is not enough to simply learn the syntax of the language, but one must also learn the coding standards of the language. Many people who are new to developing and programming usually take this for granted and tend to skip over this aspect, but this is arguably the most important topic. Coding standards create universality across all developers, which can not only help the readability of code but also implements security protocols to strengthen any program. Following a standardized coding style can also be viewed as the difference between an average programmer, and a professional software developer.
If you are learning from an institution, then you should be able to access an up to date, secure coding style software. If you are not working in an institution, then choosing the right standard may seem challenging to start. First, you must identify what language you are utilizing, and what version of the language you are working with. For example, C and C++ are low-level languages that have not innately received updates to the environment or libraries. On the other hand, a language such as Javascript is a high-level language and has received new version releases which implement new changes with every version.
Once you know the environment and version, a quick search should be able to bring up numerous coding style software and packages. Now comes the more challenging part, finding the best one to choose from. Compile a list of the standards for your version, and do a deep search on these. In most cases, searching, “What coding style is best for ${insert language name}?” should bring up many forums where advanced users supply detailed answers of what is the best standard to use. If searching the web does not supply an answer, one should read what purpose each standard serves and what it does to standardize code. One should understand that while one coding style may be newer than another, it may not mean it is the best to use. This is primarily because newer standards require more advanced implementations and structure, but these should not be mistaken as ‘bad’.
When you find a good standard you wish to use, you should then research how to implement the standard in your environment. If you use an integrated development environment, IDE, for programming, then there should be settings to implement the standard to check the style of your code autonomously. If you are programming in an operating system, then the compiler you use should be able to complete a style check and return any errors it encounters before compilation. This is usually done with option selection and specifications when you write the command to compile your code. The compiler manual should have information on how to do this but a web search may have more digestible information or a video on how to do this.
So far, I have covered how to find a good coding standard, and how to implement it, and have only lightly touched on why professionals use coding standards. Simply put, if everyone adopted their own coding style, working in a group or doing reading a software’s source code would be a nightmare. With coding style standardization, everyone can comprehend any piece of code, as long as they can understand what the variables are and the logic that manipulates them. Coding standards also help to improve security as common vulnerabilities are caught automatically, so no average programmer can publish code that an average (or even newbie) attacker can exploit. It is highly suggested that when researching coding standards, you take the time to read through the source code to fully understand what is being flagged. This can further help to strengthen your coding abilities and to do less work in the debugging stage.