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ryanmcdermott / repository
Clean Code concepts adapted for JavaScript
Software engineering principles, from Robert C. Martin's book Clean Code, adapted for JavaScript. This is not a style guide. It's a guide to producing readable, reusable, and refactorable software in JavaScript.
Not every principle herein has to be strictly followed, and even fewer will be universally agreed upon. These are guidelines and nothing more, but they are ones codified over many years of collective experience by the authors of Clean Code.
Our craft of software engineering is just a bit over 50 years old, and we are still learning a lot. When software architecture is as old as architecture itself, maybe then we will have harder rules to follow. For now, let these guidelines serve as a touchstone by which to assess the quality of the JavaScript code that you and your team produce.
One more thing: knowing these won't immediately make you a better software developer, and working with them for many years doesn't mean you won't make mistakes. Every piece of code starts as a first draft, like wet clay getting shaped into its final form. Finally, we chisel away the imperfections when we review it with our peers. Don't beat yourself up for first drafts that need improvement. Beat up the code instead!
Bad:
const yyyymmdstr = moment().format("YYYY/MM/DD");
Good:
const currentDate = moment().format("YYYY/MM/DD");
Bad:
getUserInfo();
getClientData();
getCustomerRecord();
Good:
getUser();
We will read more code than we will ever write. It's important that the code we do write is readable and searchable. By not naming variables that end up being meaningful for understanding our program, we hurt our readers. Make your names searchable. Tools like buddy.js and ESLint can help identify unnamed constants.
Bad:
// What the heck is 86400000 for?
setTimeout(blastOff, 86400000);
Good:
// Declare them as capitalized named constants.
const MILLISECONDS_PER_DAY = 60 * 60 * 24 * 1000; //86400000;
setTimeout(blastOff, MILLISECONDS_PER_DAY);
Bad:
const address = "One Infinite Loop, Cupertino 95014";
const cityZipCodeRegex = /^[^,\\]+[,\\\s]+(.+?)\s*(\d{5})?$/;
saveCityZipCode(
address.match(cityZipCodeRegex)[1],
address.match(cityZipCodeRegex)[2]
);
Good:
const address = "One Infinite Loop, Cupertino 95014";
const cityZipCodeRegex = /^[^,\\]+[,\\\s]+(.+?)\s*(\d{5})?$/;
const [_, city, zipCode] = address.match(cityZipCodeRegex) || [];
saveCityZipCode(city, zipCode);
Explicit is better than implicit.
Bad:
const locations = ["Austin", "New York", "San Francisco"];
locations.forEach(l => {
doStuff();
doSomeOtherStuff();
// ...
// ...
// ...
// Wait, what is `l` for again?
dispatch(l);
});
Good:
const locations = ["Austin", "New York", "San Francisco"];
locations.forEach(location => {
doStuff();
doSomeOtherStuff();
// ...
// ...
// ...
dispatch(location);
});
If your class/object name tells you something, don't repeat that in your variable name.
Bad:
const Car = {
carMake: "Honda",
carModel: "Accord",
carColor: "Blue"
};
function paintCar(car, color) {
car.carColor = color;
}
Good:
const Car = {
make: "Honda",
model: "Accord",
color: "Blue"
};
function paintCar(car, color) {
car.color = color;
}
Default parameters are often cleaner than short circuiting. Be aware that if you
use them, your function will only provide default values for undefined
arguments. Other "falsy" values such as '', "", false, null, 0, and
NaN, will not be replaced by a default value.
Bad:
function createMicrobrewery(name) {
const breweryName = name || "Hipster Brew Co.";
// ...
}
Good:
function createMicrobrewery(name = "Hipster Brew Co.") {
// ...
}
Limiting the amount of function parameters is incredibly important because it makes testing your function easier. Having more than three leads to a combinatorial explosion where you have to test tons of different cases with each separate argument.
One or two arguments is the ideal case, and three should be avoided if possible. Anything more than that should be consolidated. Usually, if you have more than two arguments then your function is trying to do too much. In cases where it's not, most of the time a higher-level object will suffice as an argument.
Since JavaScript allows you to make objects on the fly, without a lot of class boilerplate, you can use an object if you are finding yourself needing a lot of arguments.
To make it obvious what properties the function expects, you can use the ES2015/ES6 destructuring syntax. This has a few advantages:
Bad:
function createMenu(title, body, buttonText, cancellable) {
// ...
}
createMenu("Foo", "Bar", "Baz", true);
Good:
function createMenu({ title, body, buttonText, cancellable }) {
// ...
}
createMenu({
title: "Foo",
body: "Bar",
buttonText: "Baz",
cancellable: true
});
This is by far the most important rule in software engineering. When functions do more than one thing, they are harder to compose, test, and reason about. When you can isolate a function to just one action, it can be refactored easily and your code will read much cleaner. If you take nothing else away from this guide other than this, you'll be ahead of many developers.
Bad:
function emailClients(clients) {
clients.forEach(client => {
const clientRecord = database.lookup(client);
if (clientRecord.isActive()) {
email(client);
}
});
}
Good:
function emailActiveClients(clients) {
clients.filter(isActiveClient).forEach(email);
}
function isActiveClient(client) {
const clientRecord = database.lookup(client);
return clientRecord.isActive();
}
Bad:
function addToDate(date, month) {
// ...
}
const date = new Date();
// It's hard to tell from the function name what is added
addToDate(date, 1);
Good:
function addMonthToDate(month, date) {
// ...
}
const date = new Date();
addMonthToDate(1, date);
When you have more than one level of abstraction your function is usually doing too much. Splitting up functions leads to reusability and easier testing.
Bad:
function parseBetterJSAlternative(code) {
const REGEXES = [
// ...
];
const statements = code.split(" ");
const tokens = [];
REGEXES.forEach(REGEX => {
statements.forEach(statement => {
// ...
});
});
const ast = [];
tokens.forEach(token => {
// lex...
});
ast.forEach(node => {
// parse...
});
}
Good:
function parseBetterJSAlternative(code) {
const tokens = tokenize(code);
const syntaxTree = parse(tokens);
syntaxTree.forEach(node => {
// parse...
});
}
function tokenize(code) {
const REGEXES = [
// ...
];
const statements = code.split(" ");
const tokens = [];
REGEXES.forEach(REGEX => {
statements.forEach(statement => {
tokens.push(/* ... */);
});
});
return tokens;
}
function parse(tokens) {
const syntaxTree = [];
tokens.forEach(token => {
syntaxTree.push(/* ... */);
});
return syntaxTree;
}
Do your absolute best to avoid duplicate code. Duplicate code is bad because it means that there's more than one place to alter something if you need to change some logic.
Imagine if you run a restaurant and you keep track of your inventory: all your tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices, etc. If you have multiple lists that you keep this on, then all have to be updated when you serve a dish with tomatoes in them. If you only have one list, there's only one place to update!
Oftentimes you have duplicate code because you have two or more slightly different things, that share a lot in common, but their differences force you to have two or more separate functions that do much of the same things. Removing duplicate code means creating an abstraction that can handle this set of different things with just one function/module/class.
Getting the abstraction right is critical, that's why you should follow the SOLID principles laid out in the Classes section. Bad abstractions can be worse than duplicate code, so be careful! Having said this, if you can make a good abstraction, do it! Don't repeat yourself, otherwise you'll find yourself updating multiple places anytime you want to change one thing.
Bad:
function showDeveloperList(developers) {
developers.forEach(developer => {
const expectedSalary = developer.calculateExpectedSalary();
const experience = developer.getExperience();
const githubLink = developer.getGithubLink();
const data = {
expectedSalary,
experience,
githubLink
};
render(data);
});
}
function showManagerList(managers) {
managers.forEach(manager => {
const expectedSalary = manager.calculateExpectedSalary();
const experience = manager.getExperience();
const portfolio = manager.getMBAProjects();
const data = {
expectedSalary,
experience,
portfolio
};
render(data);
});
}
Good:
function showEmployeeList(employees) {
employees.forEach(employee => {
const expectedSalary = employee.calculateExpectedSalary();
const experience = employee.getExperience();
const data = {
ex
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grikomsn /
Clean code concepts for JavaScript - Sunday, 27 October 2019