What’s the limit for inline comments, and how can you minimize them? Let’s look at a bad and a good example of inline comments, and how they’re chances to improve your code.
Does It Matter If a Hook’s Callback Function Comes Before or After its add_action? No and Yes.
Does it matter if a hook’s callback function comes before or after its add_action? My answer might surprise you. No, it does not matter to PHP or WordPress. Yes, it does matter for code readability. I’ll explain why in this article.
The Why of Modular CSS
Just like we discussed in converting to a modular PHP theme architecture, modularity applies to everything you build in code, including your stylesheets and CSS. What are the benefits to you? Why would you want to write your styles in a modular fashion? It does the following for you: Saves you time Increases the quality of your code and product Reduces errors What does that mean for you? Takes you less time to produce solutions, meaning a lower product cost and time to market. Makes you more in demand, marketable, and valuable. That means you can make more moola. Let’s […]
Theme Customizer Files
Next, you need to move the theme customizer files from the Genesis Sample Theme to your new developer’s theme. You’ll start by copying the files into your theme. Then you’ll start refactoring by applying the PHP namespace and removing the prefixing. You’ll give the functions purposeful names so that each tells you specifically what it does, i.e. what the expected behavior is when you call the function. You’ll be reorganizing the helper functions into a helper file. Also, there are some functions embedded within a function, which makes the code less readable. Let’s refactor those and make them their own […]
Refactoring Image Sizes
Your homework in the last episode was to refactor the image sizes on your own. In this episode, we’ll walk through how to move the image size name and arguments into a configuration variable. Just like the theme supports, calling the image sizes over and over again is WET and unnecessary. Let’s refactor to clean up the code and remove the redundancies.
Refactoring Theme Supports
Did you notice that the function add_theme_support() is being called over and over and over again in the setup? And did you notice that this function requires a key and then a value? I mentioned in the last episode that the final version of this starter theme will load all of the theme supports from a configuration file. Calling this function repeatedly is redundant and unnecessary. Let’s refactor it to convert the theme to clean, quality coding standard. In this episode, you will refactor the WordPress theme supports to move the parameters into a local configuration array. Then you’ll loop […]
The Why of Clean Code
There are two main principles which will accelerate your career in this profession: fundamentals and clean, quality coding techniques. Mastering these, incrementally building yourself up and incorporating them into your workflow and code will make you more in demand and marketable. Why? Why is clean, quality coding so important? Clean code means quality. You are increasing the quality of the product you are producing. Why? By breaking up your code into modules, having a function do just one thing and behavior, purposefully naming variables and functions, and making your code more readable, you are reducing the maintainability costs of code. […]
Real Refactoring Example
Even though I use and like Genesis doesn’t mean there aren’t areas where it doesn’t fully comply with clean, quality coding techniques. In the last episode, I showed you the code for processing the post image. Did you notice that the code within the function genesis_do_post_image() will not run (none of it) if the conditional expression is not true? Ah, this is a perfect example of when to return early. Return early pattern: when you are done processing and nothing else in the function/method is going to be processed, then so bail out and return early. Why? Why would you […]
Quality Code Tip: Views are for HTML – Not Your Business Logic
In today’s quality code tip, you will learn about removing the HTML from your business logic and putting it into a view file. In programming, you want to separate out your code by its intent and purpose. Let’s discuss the what, how, and why of view files. (Side note: I’m showing you the actual code on this website which is powered by Genesis.
if/else Backwards Code Pattern – Code Smell
Code Smell Alert: A common code pattern that I see is where the if/else logic and the if conditional is backwards. I call this the “if/else backwards code pattern.” This code pattern makes the code less readable, which decreases its quality. There are two clues to let you know that you have stumbled into this pattern: The if conditional is set off of a false state. Typically you’ll see a not operator (!) as your clue. The if logic is setting a default state. But that is the job of the else. Smelly Version This is the smelling code pattern: […]