Top 10 Reasons Not To Use Coding Conventions / Standards

Top 10 reasons not to use coding standards:

1. Coding conventions are hard to remember. Why would you, the superstar programmer, have to remember coding conventions? As a superstar you should be allowed to code-as-you-will and leave it to the minions to clean it up after you.

2. Coding standards gives manager’s / clients yet another reason to reject your product / solution. Why empower them to evaluate you on yet another metrics? After all managers have been known to measure productivity by counting lines of code. This isn’t fiction. I had one manager who counted productivity with wc -l.

3. Coding standards are different for different companies. So having a coding convention in companies reduces mobility of software developers. Why would you, as a software developer, want to reduce your mobility?

4. You can never agree on whether tabs are good or spaces are good. And then whether it is four spaces or eight. Deciding upon a coding convention means you have to participate in endless fights of both camps. Not to mention whether hungarian notation is better or polish notation. Why bother?

5. Coding convention makes your code easier to understand. That makes your job less secure. Maintaining good coding standard means your code can be understood by anyone and your project easily outsourced to some lowly-paid Indian’s in Bangalore (the horror!).

6. Insurance against merger & acquisitions. Your job is virtually insured if your project is worth something. Nobody else in the whole wide world can decipher your code as you rigorously do not follow any coding standards.

7. Oh yeah, I am doing exactly that. Imagine you are facing a strong opponent / competitor who questions your very capability to execute the project successfully. You can easily bluff your way through as nobody can decipher your code to expose your bluff. Then you can later correct the mistakes, or should you?

8. Coding standards does not increase shareholder value. You can use this high-sounding phrase (and lie) to impress your colleagues or manager. If your project is doomed then you may actually be right.

9. Lack of coding standards is an in-built obfuscator of your source code. Even if your code gets stolen (like Microsoft’s), nobody can make head or tail out of it (like Microsoft’s). Remember never to write code like Sybase or you will suffer when it gets stolen (by you know who).

10. Coding standards isn’t a good conversation starter. You cannot impress your significant other (or hopeful) with it. Nor can you use it as a leverage to demand a raise. So why bother?