Finally, we should take care to maintain a consistent code style throughout our project. Code styles are subjective, stylistic choices that do not alter the function of the program, for example, whether to use spaces or tabs, or whether to use camelCase or underscore_case when naming variables.
Having a consistent code style is important for the following reasons:
- It makes the code more readable.
- When working with others, contributors may override each other's style changes. For instance, contributor A may change all string literals to using single-quotes, and contributor B may change it back to double-quotes in a subsequent commit. This is a problem because:
- Time and effort are wasted
- It can lead to ill-feelings because no one likes their work being overwriten
- Changes become hard to review, and the pertinent changes may be submerged under the stylistic changes.
Once a set of code style rules is defined, a linter can be used to enforce those rules. A linter is a static analysis...
