Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship, 2nd Edition

28

Harm

1. I will not produce harmful code.

The first promise of the software professional is: DO NO HARM! And that means that your code must not harm your users, your employers, your managers, or your fellow programmers.

You must know what your code does. You must know that it works. And you must know that it is clean.

Sometime back, it was discovered that some programmers at Volkswagen wrote some code that purposely thwarted EPA emissions tests. Those programmers wrote harmful code.

It was harmful because it was deceitful. That code fooled the EPA into allowing cars to be sold that emitted 20 times the amount of harmful nitrous oxides as the EPA deemed safe. Therefore, that code potentially harmed the health of everyone living where those ...