Programming and especially mobile web development is both science and art at the same time. Being an efficient programmer is not something you achieve but it is something you develop over the time. Obviously, you need to be on the right track since the day one to do that. Efficient programmer refers to delivering the right product without using too many resources (like time and money) and without making many mistakes. Let’s see how you can become an efficient programmer.
Start from The Basics
Before you try to become a good and efficient programmer, you should understand the concepts and technologies involved with the programming ecosystem. The core conceptual understanding of the subject is a must-have trait. Without having strong basics, firm grasp and understanding of the programming, you cannot possibly offer efficient solutions.
Analyzing the problem is important; the more time you spent on analyzing the problem, the lesser time you need to fix that problem. In other words, when you experience an unexpected issue, don’t start pressing keys on the keyword aimlessly but instead take a step back and spend some time on analyzing the issue.
That’s pretty obvious; however, you must start organizing things even before starting writing the code. You must organize the requirements, features, documentations and layouts. It is always better to start with a rough sketch of the final product and refine that sketch into a fully functional product. There are tons of benefits of organizing things at the earlier stage.
First of all, it helps developers understand the requirements and secondly it prevents miscommunication between all parties. There are numerous online websites, tools and services that allow developers to organize things online.
Communication is the key here; try to establish an effective communication medium without your client or other stakeholders so you can get their active feedback on the project. The continuous flow of information would give you leverage of keeping everyone in the loop. Additionally, if there was a miscommunication or misunderstanding, both parties would be able to fix that at earlier stage. Make sure your messages are complete, clear and concise.
Being realistic while developing mobile app is as good as being realistic in life. Of course you’ll occasionally find some room for being optimistic but expecting too much and too soon is going to disappoint you sooner or later. Being an efficient programmer does not mean you will be dramatically faster than other programmers in terms of project completion time.
As mentioned above, you should document everything and if you believe you can deliver something then be confident about that but don’t expect to deliver things magically because such expectations will backfire you.
Join Communities and Forum
Joining relevant forums and communities has its own perks; nowadays, you have numerous such opportunities to learn from others. Not only you will be learning lots of things from others’ experiences, but you will be able to make new connections. Many programmers use 3rd party repositories and open source codes from such communities in their own apps to accelerate the development process.
This is a smart move to use existing proven code instead of writing your own from the scratch. Make sure you do have permission or license to use other people’s code in your own project.
Write Self-explanatory Code
There are developers, programmers and coders out there who write complex code just for show-off, to show they can write complex code. This is an inefficient and ineffective strategy that does not mix well with professionalism. Unless there is a strong reason to write hard-to-read code, you should write simple and self-explanatory code. Simple and logical code usually comes with lesser bugs and could anyone can later debug it easily. Your code should be self-explanatory and descriptive.
Review Your Code Repeatedly
We can understand how difficult and frustrating it is to review your own code and try to find errors and room for improvements in it, but it is part of your job and there is always room for improvement. You might not feel the need of making your inefficient code better but when this small piece of code will become part of a bigger project, you’d want to make it better. It is even better to ask other programmers to review you code if you can. This approach will give you more insights about how you can improve your code and if you know your code you will be able to debug it easily.
Read and Write Documentation
Documentations are important; if you are going to use a new tool or technology, always read its documentation first. Documentation refers to tutorials, specifications or any other document about a tool and every one of them is important. Reading these documents enables you to understand the capabilities and even limitations of that tool and this information can help you use that tool effectively and efficiently.
The same goes for the projects you are working on; you should document all the features and work you are going to do. This would not only benefit you in version control but you’d be able to track down bugs at earlier stage.
Learn from Others
That’s no brainer; you should regularly see other people’s code to learn new things. There are lots of ways to get your hands on interesting projects and review work of other people. You can learn a lot by reviewing your seniors’ work. There are online forums and communities where programmers ask for collaboration and you can offer your help there to learn new things and new approaches. Even if you won’t learn what practices you should adopt, at least you will learn which practices you should avoid.
Be Up-to-Date With Bugfender
You probably already know that iOS and Android app development industry move rapidly. The tools and technologies you are using today will be obsolete in few years or even months. It is solely your job to keep yourself up-to-date all the time with latest trends, technologies and innovations. For example, Bugfender is the latest tool based on a unique idea. It allows developers to collect logs from devices remotely for debugging purposes.
Developers can turn on and off logging for different iOs and Adnroid devices remotely by using the online portal and the same web interface allows them to see activities and event logs on devices in real-time.