Coding standards are not only used to make your code pretty, they also have a lot of other purposes. Coding standards are collections of guidelines, coding rules, and best practices. This week I have been trying out the coding standard ESLint with IntelliJ, and I can tell you that few things are more satisfying than getting the green check-mark when your code fully follows the ESLint standard.
I am currently just starting to code using Javascript. Therefore, I easily confuse the syntax with other programming languages. Using ESLint is a great way to learn Javascript and its best practices as I get errors if something I write is wrong or does not follow ESLint. I believe that I learn Javascript more quickly by using ESLint when I get notified each time I do something wrong. I for instance find it easier to remember things like using three equal signs (===) instead of two (==) to check for equal variables with the same datatype when I get an error the first times I do it wrong. I am also very satisfied when I look at my code and it looks clean and readable, it makes it easier to find mistakes. Going through the code and fixing all ESLint errors and getting the green check-mark when fixing the last error is also very pleasing.
When I become a software engineer it is important to write code using a coding standard. I will collaborate a lot on projects with other people and having a common coding standard will make life a lot easier. It makes it easier to understand each other’s code and makes the whole code for the project more similar. When becoming a software engineer it is also important to write code that is easy to maintain and debug for others and using a coding standard is very important for this. Therefore, I believe that team projects will go much smoother if everyone has installed ESLint.
To sum up, ESLint is a great feature for JavaScript code. It will make your life easier and help you get readable and nice code. I believe what is most important is to address how crucial coding standards are. They ensure consistency and readability of code and makes it possible for others to understand your code more easily.