Maintainable Code

• A big part of the idea of a software life cycle is that code isn't just written and used.
• Instead code gets modified for years after it is initially written.
• Have you ever looked at code you wrote 2 years ago and couldn't understand it?
• You may have to revisit old code, or look at someone else's code.
• What do you do to make it so other people can read and modify it.
• Comments, reasonable variable names (maybe a convention), and sensible code structure are some things you can do.
• That stuff about encapsulation is about sensible code structure.
• How big do you make your functions? (Smaller is generally better.)
• Data hiding is important.
• Tests are important.