In software engineering, “Coding Standards” are a set of guidelines or practices used to write readable and maintainable code in a project. These standards dictate the structure and formats of the code and usually include a set of rules for various things. This includes naming conventions, error handling, and more. However, why do coding standards matter? Many teams and software engineers develop coding standards for various reasons including consistency, collaboration, along other benefits. All of which improve the quality of the code while also minimizing confusion and errors in the code.
Before coming to this class, I didn’t have a specific set of guidelines on coding and didn’t exactly have a specific style or method to coding. To me, it was all about getting the assignment done using whatever code would get the job done. However, as we progressed through the class, we were taught about coding standards and various guidelines that would not only improve our current coding skills but, also teach us about a certain etiquette when it comes to coding. Whether it be commenting certain areas for better understanding to learning and understanding a coding style to create consistency in the code, coming across coding standards was a means of drastically increasing the overall quality of our coding skills. Beyond this class, I believe understanding and utilizing coding standards will help in the future when I work with a team of people coding. By utilizing coding standards my code will be better understood and it will be easier to work on compatability with other software engineers’ code. Overall coding standards was a very important topic we learned in this course that can be applied in the workfield.
Ethics in software engineering refers to the moral principles and responsibilities that software engineers have when developing and maintaining software systems. Some key aspects include user safety, data protection, security, and more. By following these principles, a software engineer can code ethically without running into issues involving non-ethical standards. In a nutshell, ethical coding is about doing the right thing and knowing what lines not to cross while coding.
This topic is widely known across all software engineers regardless of skill level in the workforce. Understanding the key aspects of ethcial coding keeps software engineers in check and helps with understanding the limits of what we can or can’t do. Beyond this class, ethics in software engineering is a must and therefore is vital to know when going into this field of work. Being unaware or ignoring ethics in software engineering can warrant serious consequences and being ignorant can cost someone else. Overall learning about ethics in software engineering will serve to be vital when going into the workforce by understanding what lines we shouldn’t cross as coders and the limits of we are allowed to do when preforming our jobs.