Organizations understand the importance of code in today’s business environment. We rely on software to power our daily lives. The global market is expected to grow as follows: Nearly $1.6 trillion In the next 10 years, developers are feeling the pressure and are being pressured to write more code every day. But that doesn’t mean that they have to sacrifice high-quality, error-free code development to meet the demand for increased software delivery.
Developers are increasingly using tests in their CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Delivery) pipelines to produce high-quality code. The problem is that these reviews are not always the right kind. Without proper reviews and analysis within the CI/CD pipeline, software based on poor-quality code is pushed into production. The problematic code runs, but it doesn’t run on a solid foundation, and that’s not a good thing.
The cycle continues as developers reuse and build on low-quality code. Teams waste time fixing the original reused code fragments, or in some cases, push them forward despite quality issues. All of this exacerbates technical debt, which is an expensive and unsustainable problem for companies to wrestle with.
Addressing this issue requires not only frequent testing, but also testing that ensures: Clean code. Writing consistent, adaptable, intentional, and responsible code prevents new problems, reduces pain points, improves collaboration, and leads to better software and stronger business outcomes. Incorporating the right tests and analytics is a win-win.
Machines may not care about clean code, but people should.
Our dependence on software is correlated with our dependence on code. The problem is that machines that run on software don’t care about the quality of the code as long as it continues to run. They don’t care about the quality and readability of the code, nor do they care about the ability of developers to understand and reuse the code later. Operational code doesn’t even have to be safe to power on.
Code needs to go beyond bare functionality, especially as AI usage increases. Research shows Almost 36% The code generated by Copilot contains serious vulnerabilities in various programming languages. So GitHub We emphasize that individual developers are responsible for ensuring code quality and security prior to deployment.
Developers know that AI coding assistants can help them keep up with growing business demands and increase productivity. Where they fall short is maintaining quality. Teams commonly include unit tests in their CI/CD pipelines as a way to check AI-generated code, but in reality, unit tests alone only analyze functionality, not quality.
Deploying software that has only been unit tested can certainly be functional, but if the quality is poor, it can have a negative domino effect, causing long-term problems and rework. Functionality alone is not enough. It is important to prevent problems in the first place to avoid resource and financial costs.
Code doesn’t end with one project
Developers are always looking for ways to increase productivity and reuse what they have already built to improve, add to, or create new projects. As business demands put pressure on these teams to deliver faster and at a higher rate, the need for efficiency has only grown.
However, if safe, clean, good code is not prioritized, there can be lasting effects. The effects may not be felt immediately, but bad code can become insidious to your software over time. For example, the average developer already 21 hours or more per week Debugging, refactoring, and fixing bad code costs a total of $85 million annually worldwide. Poor quality code is time-consuming and expensive to fix when it is first used, then reused on other projects.
Developer turnover exacerbates the problem. When developers leave to pursue new roles, their code can cause long-term, critical problems years later. If guardrails for sustainable clean code are not implemented, decoding their old code can be difficult.
When developers reuse poor quality code, they are dismantling the company’s software foundation from the inside. Software is the engine that drives today’s businesses, and software-related problems can threaten revenue, reputation, and security. The cost of poor software quality is at least $2.4 trillionNeither developers nor businesses can afford to ignore the problem of bad code.
Clean code ensures quality and reduces developer headaches.
Business disruptions, security issues, application performance degradation – these are problems that arise from bad code. But clean code allows developers and businesses to push updates and deploy software with the confidence that it is not built on a broken foundation. It can and will be done over time.
Good code benefits developers by minimizing the time and effort spent on patching and refactoring later. Having confidence that the code is clean enhances collaboration, making it easier for developers to reuse code from colleagues or AI tools. This not only simplifies work, but also reduces the need for retroactive fixes and helps prevent and reduce technical debt.
It is important to note that to deliver clean code, developers need to start with the right guardrails, tests, and analysis from the beginning in their IDE. Combining unit tests with static analysis can also help ensure quality. The earlier these reviews occur in the development process, the better.
Investing in clean code brings results
Developers and companies cannot afford to perpetuate the cycle of bad code and the resulting poor software. Pushing poor-quality code into development only leads to the reintroduction of broken software later on, even if it seems to work fine for a while. To end this cycle, developers need to deliver software built with clean code before distribution.
By implementing effective reviews and tests that gatekeeping bad code before it becomes a major problem, developers are better prepared to deliver software that is both functional and long-lasting. Investing in quality code pays dividends in several ways: It frees up developer resources and supports collaboration while reducing costly technical debt. Only by working with the highest quality code can companies ensure that developers can deliver software that is functional and long-lasting, delivering impactful business outcomes.