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Best Practices

Maintainable Code​

Managing code is work. The more code we write, the more we have to maintain (and the more that can go wrong). Focus on writing maintainable, readable code. Don’t be afraid to re-factor code when patterns start to emerge. Common functionality can be moved into functions, or pre-written packages can be included using NPM.

Environment Variables​

Avoid writing code that requires manual edits to code for deployment to different environments e.g. production vs. staging URLs for APIs. Use environment variables or runtime variables with npm where possible.

npm run watch --apiBase http://localhost.test/api/
let apiBase = process.env.apiBase || "http://productionurl.com/api";

Credentials​

Don’t commit credentials where possible. For Drupal and WordPress sites, favor the approach of including a settings.local.php or wp-config-local.php file to store credentials.

Document your code​

Use JSDoc style comments for JavaScript

/**
 * Represents a book
 * @param {string} title - Title of the book
 * @param {string} author - Author of the book
 */
function Book(title: string, author: string) {
}

Committing code​

Commit code regularly, and in logical chunks e.g. Don't commit masses of updates in one commit. Commit each logical update individually.

Provide helpful commit messages that describe the fix, and copy a bug/issue ticket number or URL where possible.

See the git page for more information.

Bad: Fix bug
Good: Fixes flickering menu at smaller screen sizes. References trello ticket: (trello url).