be kind to your future self.md

how to be kind to your future self and others

avoid if statement hell.

this:

if(thing){
    if(someThingElse){
        if(thisOtherThing){
            if(oneMoreThing){
                doSomethingUseful()
            }else{
                return oneMoreError
            }
        }else{
            return thisError
        }
    }else{
        return someOtherError
    }
}else{
    return someError
}
// 17 LOC, 327 characters

should be:

if(!thing){
    return someError
}
if(!someThingElse){
    return someOtherError
}
if(!thisOtherThing){
    return thisError
}
if(!oneMoreThing){
    return oneMoreError
}
doSomethingUseful()
// 13 LOC, 191 characters

but this can be ever better if we remove the curly brackets.

if(!thing) return someError
if(!someThingElse) return someOtherError
if(!thisOtherThing) return thisError
if(!oneMoreThing) return oneMoreError
doSomethingUseful()
// 5 LOC, 163 characters

avoid negation in if/else statements.

(note that the above heuristic should take priority over this one)

if(!aThing) itsNotAThing()
else itIsAThing()

what your brain sees: if (not) a thing its not a thing else it is a thing

if(aThing) itIsAThing()
else itsNotAThing()

what your brain sees: if a thing it is a thing else its not a thing

its very easy for brain compilers to miss small none alphabet characters (since its most often actively ignoring other none alphabet characters like (, ) , {, } and ; ) your brain compiler is also very fast at reading words since it already has a lot of experience reading books

function names should be legible but not verbose. optimize for readability / length

if(friend(person)) doSomething(person)

what your brain reads: "If friend person do something person" - wtf?

should be

if(isFriend(person)) doSomething(person)

what your brain reads: "If is friend person do something person" - ok..

even better

if(person.isFriend()) doSomethingWith(person)

what your brain reads: "If person is friend do something with person" - sweet

worse

if(person.isFriend()) doSomethingWithThePersonThatIsMyFriend(person)

what your brain reads: "If person is friend do something with the person that is my friend person" - ok

this might be easier for your brain to read but it's much less memorable. Brain compilers are terrible at dealing with long function names