While writing code, it is important that the written code is clean and properly managed. Clean code refers to the code that is easy to read, understand and maintain. On the other hand source code management (SCM) involves tracking of modifications on the source code. SCM helps to merge the code from different coders into a common code base. Together, these practices play a crucial role in the success of software projects.

Characteristics of clean code

A clean code is robust, modular, and easily testable. It has following features:

• Identifiers used have meaningful names that accurately describe their purpose.
• Use of consistent formatting and indentation.
• Use of visual cues and explanations for complex business logic.
• Proper documentation of the project.

Code Quality Assurance

Code quality assurance is the measure of effectiveness, reliability, and maintainability of the code. The main qualities of a good code are readability, clarity, reliability, security, and modularity.

Certain techniques to ensure the code quality are:

Code Review: Reviewing the code refers to examining it in-order to identify potential defects. It involves checking the code of team members to give feedback based on the reviewer’s knowledge.

Testing: Testing is a fundamental step in code quality assurance. It involves examining whether the code meets the specified requirements.

Some of the testing techniques are: unit testing, integration testing, end-to-end testing, etc. Testing helps developers validate the functionality, performance, and reliability of their code.

Continuous Integration: Continuous Integration is a development practice that involves regularly integrating code changes into a shared repository and automating the build and testing process. CI automates the repetitive tasks and detects the integration issues early.

Source Code Management (SCM)

SCM is a system that enables efficient management of code changes, versioning and collaboration among developers. Some SCM systems are Git, Bitbucket, Mercurial , GitLab, Subversion, etc.

In SCM, code repositories serve as central hubs for storing and managing code, facilitating easy access, sharing, and version control. Some SCM provides additional features such as issue tracking, code review, and continuous integration.

Branching and merging are fundamental SCM concepts enabling parallel development and collaborative workflows. Developers create branches to isolate changes and merge them back into the main codebase when ready,facilitating flexibility and team collaboration.

Best practices in SCM

Commit often

Commits are like making a checkpoint of our work. Commits enable us to revert to the previous checkpoint if needed. Commits should be made frequently for every modification to the code base. This practice helps to track small to large changes in the code base in future.

Write a good commit message

A commit message is a brief description of modifications made. Commit message consists of subject and body if additional description is needed. Subject contains a concise summary about the changes and the body in the commit message contains reason for the change i.e. why the change was required, what changes were made and how the change solved the problem.

Pull regularly

While working in a team, many developers contribute to the code base. To avoid conflicts, we must work on the latest code base. So, always pull the latest code before working on a repository.

Use Branches

Branching is a powerful mechanism that allows developers to create a separate line of development. They keep the updates beside the main line. They help to keep the code line clean and flawless. These branches can later be verified then merged into the main line or discarded. Creating a branch is a cheap and easy task. So, we must create a branch to add any updates on the code.