Keeping Things Up to Standard
22 Sep 2022Imagine if all research papers or professional papers all had different writing standards that led to formatting being all over the place or information being scattered throughout the paper without rhyme or reason. This leads to nothing but confusion and can make a concise paper/report into a long, frustrating read that might not make sense in the end. In a similar vein, this is why coding standards exist so that you know exactly what another programmer is saying in their code just because there is a baseline to reference to.
Why So Many Rules?
The readability of code is extremely important and is a skill that takes years to truly master. Making sure that someone else who has no idea what the program is supposed to do at the start but gradually understand the code as they read through it is an invaluable skill. The reason for this is that it allows for less chance of confusion and allows for much higher proficiency when working on large scale projects. There are plug-ins and programs that signal and help weed out poor formatting and messy practices. These tools can be frustrating to begin with as they you will continuously receive errors, but in the end it will make you a much more organized programmer whose peers will thank when they can understand your code in an instant.
In Conclusion
Programming languages are very similar to conventional languages as they all have their own rules that allows for others to understand what you are trying to say/write. Following coding standards can benefit in learning a new language because understanding guidelines helps familiarize yourself with new words and/or concepts. Conforming to coding standards is only a benefit.