Good Code, Bad Code: Think like a software engineer

"Helps explain some of the knowledge gaps between enthusiastic new graduates and grouchy old gray beards like myself." - Joe Ivans

Practical techniques for writing code that is robust, reliable, and easy for team members to understand and adapt.

Good code or bad code? The difference often comes down to how you apply the conventions, style guides, and other established practices of the software development community. In Good Code, Bad Code you'll learn how to boost your effectiveness and productivity with code development insights normally only learned through years of experience, careful mentorship, and hundreds of code reviews.

In Good Code, Bad Code you'll learn how to:

- Think about code like an effective software engineer

- Write functions that read like a well-structured sentence

- Ensure code is reliable and bug free

- Effectively unit test code

- Identify code that can cause problems and improve it

- Write code that is reusable and adaptable to new requirements

- Improve your medium and long-term productivity

- Save you and your team's time

about the technology

Coding in a development team requires very different skills to working on personal projects. Successful software engineers need to ensure that their code is reusable, maintainable, and easy for others to understand and adapt.

about the book

Good Code, Bad Code is a shortcut guide to writing high-quality code. Your mentor is Google veteran Tom Long, who lays out lessons and mindsets that will take your code from “junior developer” to “senior engineer.” This instantly-useful book distils the principles of professional coding into one comprehensive and hands-on beginner's guide.

You'll start with a jargon-free primer to coding fundamentals that teaches you to think about abstractions, consider your fellow engineers, and write code that can recover from errors. Next, you'll dive into specific techniques and practices. You'll run through common coding practices to learn when to apply the right technique to your problem—and which might be best avoided! All practices are illustrated with annotated code samples written in an instantly recognizable pseudocode that you can relate to your favourite object-oriented language. By the time you're done, you'll be writing the kind of readable, reusable, and testable code that's the mark of a true software professional.

about the reader

For coders looking to improve their experience in professional software development.

about the author

Tom Long is a software engineer at Google. He works as a tech lead, mentoring and teaching professional coding practices to new graduates and beginner software engineers.