Just Standard Procedure!
10 Feb 2022What is the Importance of Standards?
WouLd it bE StrAnGe to WritE LikE thiS? One look at this sentence and some people may think “why does this sentence look so strange?” That’s because we are used to seeing English syntax written to a standard that we were taught in grade school. If everyone read and wrote without standards we’d be living in a world where sentences, just like the first one, are written all over newspapers, important documents, and perhaps even dictionaries. I believe having a standard when writing code should be no different than having one when you are writing a poem. Let’s discuss the benefits.
Standards Are Everywhere!
Standards aren’t just a way for people to conform to what is “normal”. I believe standards, especially language standards, exist for people to harmonize better. Dress code standards at the workplace encourage professionalism, dietary standards inform people on how to live a healthier lifestyle, and coding standards enable colleagues to collaborate on projects. Like a universal utility, setting standards is a powerful tool to enable cooperation.
Sampling a New IDE
At first glance, I was intimidated by the layout and functionality of IntelliJ. It’s always anxiety-inducing to climb on a bike you’ve never ridden. However, once I started pedaling, I was zooming off with ease! Functionality begins to make sense, shortcuts start to become second nature, and the fear of trying something new turns into an illusion. My first attempt at installing ESLint and disabling all other inspectors took a good while, but just as a good pot of stew, once the ingredients are all in the pot, all there’s left to do is stir. Installing the gitignore, eslintrc, and package.json, has become a routine procedure. I’m well oiled and ready for my next assignment!
One Standard to Rule Them All!
Learning a new standard is a pain for sure… However, when this new standard is enforced by an IDE, my weekly assignments become easier! Modern word processors usually implement a type of writing assistance that reviews your spelling, grammar, and punctuation (I personally use Grammarly). The “assistant” then corrects these errors, sometimes without you even noticing. The ESLint inspector works in similar ways! Code that doesn’t conform to these standards is flagged for review and corrected accordingly by the user. This can be done with a click of a button, code is fixed according to ESLint’s standard. It can even fix multiple errors at once! Wow! Save yourself the grief of error handling and move on to the next step.
My Humble Opinion
My final thoughts on this? Use it, understand it, live by it. A coding standard is the best way to collaborate with others on programming projects. In the ever-evolving world of technology, improving the quality of one’s coding standards will always be constant.