What is a coding style guide?

A coding style guide is a set of rules or guidelines that programmers can follow to ensure that their code is written in a consistent and easy-to-read manner.

These guidelines typically cover topics such as indentation, naming conventions, and comments, and they can help to make your code more organized and maintainable. A coding style guide can also help to improve collaboration within a team by establishing a common set of rules that everyone can follow.

Big companies such as Airbnb and JavaScript made public their coding style guides for JavaScript.

The guidelines of a coding style guide can vary depending on the specific style guide that you are using. However, some common guidelines that are often included in coding style guides for JavaScript include the following:

  • Use indentation to improve the readability of your code. This typically means using a consistent number of spaces or tabs to indent your code, and making sure that nested blocks of code are indented consistently.

  • Use descriptive and meaningful names for your variables, functions, and other code elements. This can make your code easier to read and understand, and can help to prevent mistakes and misunderstandings.

  • Use comments to explain the purpose and functionality of your code. This can be especially helpful for complex or non-obvious code, and can help other programmers who are working on the same project.

  • Avoid using global variables, and instead use local variables that are scoped to the specific function or block of code where they are needed. This can help to prevent naming conflicts and improve the modularity of your code.

  • Use consistent formatting and punctuation, such as using semicolons after statements and using consistent casing for variables and function names. This can make your code easier to read and understand, and can help to prevent certain types of errors.

Note: The guidelines in a coding style guide are not necessarily rules that must be followed strictly. Instead, they are more like recommendations or best practices that programmers can choose to follow in order to improve the quality and readability of their code.

These are just a few examples of the types of guidelines that may be included in a coding style guide for JavaScript. However, these guidelines are the base of writing expressive code that you and your peers can understand.

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