Maintainable JavaScript

Part I. Style Guidelines

“Programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute.” —Donald Knuth

When a team is brought together for the first time, everyone brings with them their own ideas about how code should be written. After all, each team member comes from a different background. Some may come from one-man shops where they could do whatever they wanted; others may have been on different teams that had particular ways of doing things that they liked (or hated). Everyone has an opinion about how code should be written, and it usually falls in line with how that individual would personally write it. Establishing style guidelines should always come as early in the process as possible.

Note

The terms “style guidelines” and “code conventions” are often used interchangeably. Style guidelines are a type of code convention aimed at the layout of code within a file. Code conventions can also include programming practices, file and directory layout, and commenting. This book is actually a collection and discussion of code conventions for JavaScript.

Why Style Guidelines?

Figuring out style guidelines is a process that typically takes longer than it should. Everyone has an opinion and, when you’re going to be spending eight hours a day writing code, all programmers want to do so in a way that is comfortable to them. It takes some compromise within the team and a strong leader to move the conversation forward. Once established, style guidelines allow the team ...