Software engineering principles, from Robert C. Martin's wonderful book Clean Code, adapted for JavaScript.
Bad:
var yyyymmdstr = moment().format('YYYY/MM/DD');Good:
var yearMonthDay = moment().format('YYYY/MM/DD');Bad:
getUserInfo();
getClientData();
getCustomerRecord();Good:
getUser();Use an object if you are finding yourself needing a lot of parameters
Bad:
function createMenu(title, body, buttonText, cancellable) {
...
}Good:
var menuConfig = {
title: 'Foo',
body: 'Bar',
buttonText: 'Baz'
cancellable: true
}
function createMenu(config) {
...
}Flags tell your user that this function does more than one thing. Functions should do one thing. Split out your functions if they are following different code paths based on a boolean.
Bad:
function createFile(name, temp) {
if (temp) {
fs.create('./temp/' + name);
} else {
fs.create(name);
}
}Good:
function createTempFile(name) {
fs.create('./temp/' + name);
}
function createFile(name) {
fs.create(name);
}Comments are an apology, not a requirement. Good code mostly documents itself.
Bad:
function hashIt(data) {
// The hash
var hash = 0;
// Length of string
var length = data.length;
// Loop through every character in data
for (var i = 0; i < length; i++) {
// Get character code.
var char = i.charCodeAt(i);
// Make the hash
hash = ((hash << 5) - hash) + char;
// Convert to 32-bit integer
hash = hash & hash;
}
}Good:
function hashIt(data) {
var hash = 0;
var length = data.length;
for (var i = 0; i < length; i++) {
var char = i.charCodeAt(i);
hash = ((hash << 5) - hash) + char;
// Convert to 32-bit integer
hash = hash & hash;
}
}