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Software Engineering vocabulary · Code Review and Code Quality

Clean code

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCommon term

In software engineering, clean code means: Code that is simple, clearly named, well organized and easy for others to read, test and change, rather than code that only works.

In Turkish: temiz kod

How it is used

Popularized by Robert C. Martin's 2008 book 'Clean Code'. Teams talk about writing clean code and about principles such as small functions and meaningful names. Some developers warn against following such rules too strictly.

Example sentences

  1. Clean code isn't about being clever; it's about the next person understanding it quickly.

  2. Our team's clean code guidelines say that a function should do one thing.

Common collocations

  • write clean code
  • clean code principles
  • keep the code clean
  • clean code guidelines
  • readableEasy for another person to read and understand quickly, thanks to clear names, a simple structure and short functions.
  • maintainableEasy to understand, fix and extend over a long time, even by developers who did not write the original code.
  • refactorTo improve the structure of existing code, making it cleaner or easier to change, without changing what it does for the user.
  • code smellA sign in code that suggests a deeper design problem, such as a very long function, duplicated logic or too many parameters, even if the code works.

More terms: Code Review and Code Quality

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