Ability to write clean JavaScript code and follow JavaScript coding best practices’,
haven’t you read this multiple times in job descriptions of Hire JavaScript Developer
posts? It is almost a fundamental requirement and skill a JavaScript developer needs
to have to compete in today’s market.
If you want to optimize your JavaScript coding skills, this guide will help you with the
best practices, tips and tricks. While these are best practices and guidelines, you
should use most of them as rules for ensuring your code is readable, scannable and
easy to debug and optimize.
Benefits of maintaining clean coding standards in JavaScript
Writing clean code also has many benefits, making it a desirable skill, such as
improving code readability, maintainability and overall efficiency.
When you adhere to consistent coding styles, use logical names, maintain proper
folder structure and follow other JavaScript coding best practices, you enhance the
quality of your JavaScript code, not only for JavaScript but for any frontend or even
backend platform. Suppose you are looking for multiple frontend profiles to work on
your project. In that case, you should hire frontend developers from a trusted
frontend agency that has developers with experience in clean and secure coding.
Let’s see some more benefits of maintaining clean coding standards in JavaScript –
- Improved code readability and maintainability
- Debugging and Troubleshooting
- Code Reusability
- Scalability and Extensibility
- Onboarding and Knowledge Transfer
- Code Quality and Reliability
- Performance Optimization
- Code Consistency
- Code Reusability
- Future Proofing and Code Resilience
- Code Agility and Adaptability
Tips for Writing Clean Code with JavaScript
Now that we have discussed the various benefits of writing clean code in JavaScript,
let’s dive right into some of the JavaScript coding best practices you can follow for
writing cleaner, precise and collaborative code with ease –
1. Always use a style guide.
Consistency is the first and foremost point to focus on when writing JavaScript
code. You should check for industry-grade JavaScript coding styles guides like
standard JS, Airbnb or Google to ensure you stick to the formatting and maintain
the same naming conventions and code organization.
2. Code Modularization
You should be familiar with modularizing your code into smaller manageable
chunks and making them work as reusable components. There are different ways
to go about modularization; you could encapsulate all related functionalities into
functions, modules or classes, whichever works best for your project. Companies
looking to Hire JavaScript developers for enterprise-grade projects would want
you to have this skill in particular.
3. Consistency in Code Formatting
Being consistent in code formatting helps improve code readability. When
working in a collaborative environment, consistent code formatting would help
maintain the overall code structure and flow, reducing the time needed for
decoding and scanning through the code. An easy way to implement this is to
use some popular code formatting structure or plugin such as Prettier.
Some other useful tools you can use for code formatting in JavaScript are –
- ESLint
- StandardJS
- TSLint
4. Write meaningful comments
Commenting is a great tool that must often be used or overused without realizing
its true value. Yes, your code should be self-explanatory when and where
possible; however, when explaining complex algorithms, it is always easier to do
so through a well-written comment. It helps provide future development context
and identify performance bottlenecks when something doesn’t work in the code.
However, you should avoid excessive commenting as it complicates the code
structure and makes code scanning an issue.
5. Remove redundant code
Any dead assets in any field clog the system and negatively impact its
performance. The same is true with a codebase with unused or redundant code
lying unused. Hence, it is important to review your codebase periodically, check
for any redundant code or elements, and remove them to keep the codebase
more maintainable and cleaner.
6. Keep the functions focused and simple.
A function should always have a single responsibility and be simple. A good
guideline for function character limit should be not more than 10-15 lines per
function. If you see the function needing more lines than that, break it down into
smaller, reusable functions.
7. Prepare for error handling.
Having proper precautions is always a good idea over the assumption that you
can manage the problem from scratch when it arrives. By implementing proper
error handling best practices from the start, you ensure your codebase is lesser prone to extended downtimes. Use catch-blocks for catching and handling
exceptions effectively.
8. Follow test-driven development
Writing different tests for each functionality or service of the app is a good
practice for ensuring clean JavaScript code and efficient app functioning. You
should write unit tests to ensure your code behaves as expected and catch early
bugs.
Types of tests to write for clean JavaScript coding –
- Unit Tests
- Functional Tests
- Performance Tests
- Security Tests
- Code Coverage Tests
9. Breakdown complex logics
Certain functionalities are difficult to achieve, and in trying to get the desired
result, we write overly complex logic. This can create problems in the future when
you need to modify the code or overall functionality. If your project already has
complex logic, you should identify them and break the code into more
manageable sizes.
10. Proper use of indentation and whitespace
The use of whitespace and indentation can significantly improve code readability.
You should consistently ident your code, use line breaks for separating logical
sections and leave blank lines between different blocks of code. Maintaining a
proper code layout will also reduce the chances of human error in opening and
closing tags.
11. Refactor and improve continuously
You must conduct thorough reviews and cleanliness efforts to check your code’s
readability, performance and maintainability. You should seek feedback from
other teams and colleagues to get a proper code review without bias and identify
areas of improvement.
12. Code Security Considerations
Clean coding should also focus on secure coding, and you should keep certain
things in mind to ensure the security aspects of your JavaScript code. You can
start by validating user inputs and safeguarding your codebase against common
vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting and SQL injections.
13. Code Documentation Generation
Documenting code is important, but it can take a lot of work to track or maintain
proper documentation standards for enterprise-grade apps manually. You can
use tools like JSDoc to create documentation from code comments and
annotations automatically.
Some other useful tools you can use for code documentation in JavaScript are –
- TypeDoc
- JSDoc
- Esdoc
- Doccofy
- YUIDoc
Final Words
Following clean coding practices in JavaScript is beneficial to get the most out of the
platform and reduce day-to-day complications. Practising these tips and tricks helps
you make it a checklist while you start coding your next JavaScript project. More best
practices can be utilized for further refining your skills. Follow ECMAScript
standards, join JavaScript communities and collaborate with experienced global
JavaScript developers to keep refining your JavaScript development skills.
