"Clean code" is software development done right. The software is efficient. It doesn't repeat unnecessary functions. Its infrastructure is smart, taking full advantage of its software language capabilities. You don't find odd "work arounds" because someone didn't "know enough." You find clever layers of code, organized consistently, knitted together in a way that makes sense, speeding up processing.
We at Bright Software value the art and science, or craftsmanship of writing code, in part, because of who we are and our professional work ethic. There is a lot to reveal about a developer's insights, skill level, and experience just by looking at how they write their software code. It comes down to the quality of the code and, thus, the quality of the programmer. Quality code affords you:
1) Improved Performance – Optimally written code performs better; it is faster. Case in point: We’ve fixed old reporting software that was looping, repeatedly, through various unnecessary functions because of the software’s lack of holistic design. The looping slowed down the report response time, leaving employees waiting minutes, not seconds, for their reports to be processed.
2) Money saved on future software enhancements – Logically written software is easier to troubleshoot and augment. Case in point: It’s harder to identify bugs and problem areas in inconsistently organized code. Sometimes code can look like a novel written by twenty different people, in five different languages. Labor hours are spent combing through code as a detective of sorts, to first figure out the last developer’s logic before adding new code. Sometimes it is advisable to tell a client that it is more cost effective to rewrite the code, than to spend money on the needed labor hours to dissect old code.
3) Accessibility to more developers – Clean code makes it easier to hire from a larger pool of developers. Case in point: If your code is organized and easy to update, you can hire any number of developers to work on your code. You don’t need to be locked into any one firm who are the only ones who “know the quirks of your system.”