Best Practices

Adopt the best development practices: clean code, automated testing, CI/CD and agile methodologies for robust and maintainable projects.

Illustration of development best practices

The Foundations of Quality Code

Development best practices are not arbitrary rules, but proven principles that improve the quality, maintainability, and robustness of applications. They constitute the DNA of high-performing teams and sustainable projects.

Clean Code

  • Expressive naming: Self-documenting variables and functions
  • Short functions: One responsibility per function
  • Useful comments: Explain the “why”, not the “what”
  • Consistent formatting: Uniform style throughout the project
  • DRY principle: Don't Repeat Yourself

SOLID Principles

  • S - Single Responsibility: One class, one responsibility
  • O - Open/Closed: Open for extension, closed for modification
  • L - Liskov Substitution: Object substitution
  • I - Segregation interface: Specialized interfaces
  • D - Dependency Inversion: Depend on abstractions

Testing and Quality

Unit Testing

  • • Test isolated units
  • • Fast execution
  • • Immediate feedback
  • • High code coverage

Integration Testing

  • • Component interactions
  • • Database, APIs
  • • Realistic scenarios
  • • Regression detection

End-to-End Testing

  • • Complete user journey
  • • Real user interface
  • • Business validation
  • • Deployment confidence

Pyramid test

E2E Tests (Few, slow, expensive)
Integration Testing (Moderate, medium)
Unit Tests (Many, fast, inexpensive)

CI/CD and Automation

Continuous Integration (CI)

  • Frequent commits: Regular code integration
  • Automated build: Automatic compilation and validation
  • Automated tests: Test suite execution
  • Fast feedback: Immediate error notification

Continuous Deployment (CD)

  • Automated deployment: Production release without intervention
  • Multiple environments: Dev, Test, Staging, Prod
  • Fast rollback: Quick revert if issues
  • Monitoring: Deployment monitoring

Popular CI/CD Tools

GitHub Actions

Integrated with GitHub

GitLab CI

Complete solution

Jenkins

Mature open source

Azure DevOps

Microsoft ecosystem

Agile Methodologies

Scrum

  • Sprints: 1-4 week iterations
  • Defined roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Team
  • Ceremonies: Planning, Daily, Review, Retrospective
  • Artifacts: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Increment

Kanban

  • Continuous flow: No fixed sprints
  • WIP limit: Limited Work In Progress
  • Visual board: To Do, In Progress, Done
  • Continuous improvement: Flow optimization

Code Review and Collaboration

Code Review Benefits

  • • Early bug detection
  • • Knowledge sharing
  • • Quality improvement
  • • Compliance standards

Best Practices

  • • Small, frequent reviews
  • • Constructive feedback
  • • Validation checklist
  • • Automated checks

Documentation and Maintainability

README

  • • Project description
  • • Installation instructions
  • • Getting started guide
  • • Usage examples

API Documentation

  • • Documented endpoints
  • • Request examples
  • • Return codes
  • • Swagger/OpenAPI

Architecture

  • • Design diagrams
  • • Technical decisions
  • • Used patterns
  • • System evolution

Best practices evolve with technology and community experience. The key is to adopt a pragmatic approach, adapting these principles to each project's context and constraints, while keeping the goal of creating quality, maintainable, and scalable code.

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