Plan your coding

When starting up a big project or an advanced function, having a pre-made plan will often save you a lot of time. Even though everything seems clear at first, you may have forgotten or will forget something crucial while writing.

A good plan should contain information about your coding approach, when the different variables are known and unknown, and what the output of each code block is supposed to be. Knowing all this information in advance will help you locate difficult sections of your code, as well as prevent unnecessary code and rewriting.

Write useful comments

Commenting while writing will always help you out in the long run. Your code may seem very simple and self explanatory at the time of writing, but to someone else, or yourself in three months, it is not necessarily that simple. Write meaningful, single line comments for vague lines, and more detailed descriptions for more difficult sections. Also, remember to keep updating your comments when updating your code.

Use meaningful names

The name of a variable, class or function should in itself explain what it does and why it's there. If a name requires a comment, it does not reveal it's content. Take a look at the example below, which variable is easiest to interpret.

int d = 3600	# Seconds in one hour
# vs
int secInHour = 3600

Beware of names with very few differences, making them difficult to seperate.

int likesAtMDGFacebookPage
# vs
int likesAtMGPFacebookPage

Use pronounceable names.

str famousBlvd
# vs
str famousBoulevard

Naming conventions

When writing code, there are many different naming conventions in use. When seperating words within a single name, the two types most used are the underscore-method and camelCase-method.

int this_is_the_underscore_method
# vs
int thisIsTheCamelCaseMethod

Unless you are told to use one specific method, choose the one you prefer the most and stick with it. Mixing the two methods is a recipe for disaster, and should always be avoided.

Use spaces when necessary

Writing readable code is essential when coding, and using spaces within your code is an easy way to improve the readability a lot. Take a look at the code below, and see what a couple of extra spaces does to the code.

>>> from sympy import *

>>> x = Symbol('x')
>>> solve([x + 5*y - 2, -3*x + 6*y - 15], [x, y])
{x: -3, y: 1}
# vs
>>> x=Symbol('x')
>>> solve([x+5*y-2,-3*x+6*y-15],[x,y])
{x: -3, y: 1}