Name
DEV-01: Set standards and guidelines before writing any code
Synopsis
These standards and guidelines might include many or all of the best practices described in this book. Of course, you need to make your own decisions about what is most important and practical in your own particular environment.
Key areas of development for which you should proactively set standards are:
Selection of development tools : You should avoid relying on the MySQL command-line client to compile, execute, and test code, and avoid relying on a basic editor like Notepad or vi to write the code. MySQL AB and other software companies offer a multitude of tools (with a wide range of functionality and price) that will help you to dramatically improve your development environment. Decide on the tools to be used by all members of the development group.
How SQL is written in stored programs: The SQL in your application can be the Achilles' heel of your code base. If you aren't careful about how you place SQL statements in your stored program code, you'll end up with applications that are difficult to optimize, debug, and manage over time.
An exception-handling architecture : Users have a hard time understanding how to use an application correctly, and developers have an even harder time debugging and fixing an application if errors are handled inconsistently (or not at all). Use a consistent approach to handling runtime errors using exceptions.
Processes for code review and testing : There are some basic tenets ...