Should you ever use the var keyword in C#? What about Javascript? Being clear and precise is very important in legal contracts, but it's even more important in software. An unfortunate experience as a teenager helped crystallize the importance of being explicit in both legal matters and software. Continue...

Learn how duplicate code can turn your software projects into a circus and what Southwest Airlines can teach us about the benefits of avoiding duplicate code. Finally, Master Po and young Grasshopper bring us a few words of wisdom when it comes to perfectionism and practicality. Continue...

It's counter intuitive, but your programs will have fewer bugs and require less maintenance time if you do less (not more) error handling. Learn how focusing on making your programs fail is the better path toward more stable and more maintainable software. Continue...

Find out why "Be Consistent" earns the number one spot in The Programmer's Code and how it can be directly responsible for saving billions of dollars every year. Continue...

The following 27 rules are the distilled wisdom of decades of software development in a huge variety of software environments. From CERN to Microsoft, from mission critical to puttering for the desktop. Follow even a fraction of these rules and you'll be in constant demand. Continue...