Many developers work in legacy codebases, which are notoriously difficult to test and maintain in many cases. One way you can address these issues is by trying to maximize the use of new, better designed constructs in the code you add to the system.

Enumerations are a very primitive type that are frequently overused. In many scenarios, actual objects are a better choice.

It's highly unlikely that you're a software developer who works in a vacuum. Here are a few tips for showing your gratitude to the people, companies, products, and tools that help you to be successful.

Primitive Obsession describes code in which the design relies too heavily on primitive types, rather than solution-specific abstractions. It often results in more verbose code with more duplication of logic, since logic cannot be embedded with the primitive types used.

Encapsulation is a key aspect of object-oriented programming and software engineering. Unfortunately, many systems fail to properly encapsulate collection properties, resulting in reduced quality.

Many of you have probably heard of various "DD" approaches to writing software. There's TDD, or Test Driven Development. There's BDD, for Behavior Driven Development. In this tip, I want to introduce you to another one, PDD: Pain Driven Development.

One classification of objects in many applications is the Data Transfer Object, or DTO. Here are some more tips that may help you avoid problems when using these objects.

One classification of objects in many applications is the Data Transfer Object, or DTO. Here are some tips that may help you avoid problems when using these objects.

Low level built-in exception types offer little context and are much harder to diagnose than custom exceptions that can use the language of the model or application.

Don't fall into the premature optimization trap. Follow this sequence when developing new features.