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100 things every programmer should know

Improve your code, one tip at a time.

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tips: 100 tips
authors: 51 authors

Contents

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01 Fundamentals

Code is read much more often than it is written

Guido van Rossum

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The right type eliminates bugs before they exist

Anders Hejlsberg

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Choose boring technology

Margaret Hamilton

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04 Architecture

Good data structures simplify code

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The best JavaScript is no JavaScript

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Code is a liability, not an asset

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Optimize when it hurts, not before

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Clean code is not the end goal

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Curiosity is the engine of learning

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Your application needs to work right now just once; it must be easy to change forever

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11 Maintainability

The Boy Scout Rule

Robert C. Martin

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Security starts in the code

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13 Communication

Talk is cheap. Show me the code

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Premature optimization is the root of all evil

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15 Architecture

Abstraction is the key to survival

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Any fool can write code that a computer can understand

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Vibe Coding: Forget that the code even exists

Andrej Karpathy

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18 Fundamentals

There are only two hard things in Computer Science

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Algorithms are not neutral: they have the face of who programs them

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20 Architecture

Simplicity is a prerequisite for reliability

Edsger W. Dijkstra

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AI should augment human intelligence, not replace it

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Adding manpower to a late project makes it later

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Technology should empower citizens, not control them

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Make it work, make it right, make it fast

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25 Accessibility

Accessibility is not a feature, it's a right

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Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code

Brian Kernighan

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Your community is your superpower

Cassidy Williams

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Question everything you take for granted

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29 Web Standards

The web platform is your best framework

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30 Documentation

Code never lies, comments sometimes do

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With large models come large responsibilities

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If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it

Richard Feynman

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33 Developer Experience

Developer experience matters as much as user experience

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34 Maintainability

Code as if the maintainer is a violent psychopath who knows where you live

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AI-generated code needs human review

Andrej Karpathy

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The best request is the one not made

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37 Craftsmanship

The code that doesn't exist works best

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Before learning a framework, learn the problem it solves

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Content should guide design, not the other way around

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CSS is a programming language, treat it as such

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41 Architecture

Technical debt is like financial debt: you have to pay it

Ward Cunningham

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42 Architecture

All abstractions are leaky

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43 Productivity

Convention over configuration: fewer decisions, more productivity

David Heinemeier Hansson

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44 Architecture

Don't design for the worst case, design for the real case

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Teach bravery, not perfection

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The profiler is your best friend, not your intuition

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The best documentation is code that doesn't need it

Kelsey Hightower

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Ask what you don't know, even if it seems obvious

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Data matters, not opinions

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If your system is good, deploy on Friday

Guillermo Rauch

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Make it work, make it right, make it fast (in that order)

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Less JavaScript is better JavaScript

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53 Fundamentals

Data structures dominate. If you choose them right, algorithms are obvious

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A function should do one thing and do it well

Robert C. Martin

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Write tests that fail, not tests that pass

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Animations should have a purpose, not be decoration

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Short code is not always better code

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58 Architecture

Prefer composition over inheritance

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Native CSS is more powerful than you think

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Refactor mercilessly, but with tests

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Learn in public: your best professional investment

Cassidy Williams

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62 Architecture

Duplicate code before creating the wrong abstraction

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Learn by doing, not by reading

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64 Architecture

Write code that's easy to delete, not easy to extend

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Git is your time machine, use it well

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66 Fundamentals

Explicit is better than implicit

Guido van Rossum

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Errors are data, not exceptions

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68 Documentation

The README is your first impression

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The terminal is your superpower

Jessie Frazelle

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The best bug is the one that never reaches production

Guillermo Rauch

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Don't optimize what you didn't measure

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Names reveal intention

Robert C. Martin

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73 Architecture

Mutable state is the root of all evil

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The user doesn't wait: every millisecond counts

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75 Productivity

Don't reinvent the wheel (unless you're learning about wheels)

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Code is communication between humans

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77 Architecture

Simplicity is not simplistic

Edsger W. Dijkstra

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TypeScript makes you faster, not slower

Anders Hejlsberg

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Tests are the best documentation

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Code reviews are for learning, not criticizing

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Start from the end: write first how you want to use the code

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Logs are your best friend in production

Kelsey Hightower

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83 Architecture

Every dependency is debt you'll have to pay

David Heinemeier Hansson

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The first step to fixing a bug is reproducing it

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85 Architecture

Separate what changes from what stays the same

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Performance degrades gradually: always monitor

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Divide the problem until each part is trivial

Edsger W. Dijkstra

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First make it work, then make it beautiful

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Context is everything: there are no universal best practices

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Software is a process, not a finished product

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91 Documentation

Don't assume the next person knows: document decisions

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Learn to say 'no' or 'not yet'

David Heinemeier Hansson

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93 Productivity

If you do it three times, automate it

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Take care of your mental health: burnout is real

Cassidy Williams

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Before how, ask what for

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Early feedback is worth gold

Guillermo Rauch

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Humility makes you a better developer

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Code is temporary, the problems it solves matter

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Share what you know: the community gives back more

Cassidy Williams

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Never stop learning: curiosity is your superpower

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Based on the idea of "97 Things Every Programmer Should Know".

An initiative by @midudev CC BY-NC 4.0 License

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