Tidy code comparison

301.7 Maintainable Code

Maintainable Code — Note 4 of 4

Improve messy examples.

What you need to know

Tidy code uses meaningful names, consistent indentation, and helpful comments. You should be able to read messy code and rewrite it following best practices without changing its behaviour.

What to know

Rename single-letter variables to descriptive names
Add consistent indentation (4 spaces)
Add comments to explain purpose of sections
Remove unnecessary blank lines or clutter
Keep line length reasonable

Code examples

Messy → tidy

python

# MESSY
x=int(input())
if x>10:
 print("big")

# TIDY
user_number = int(input("Enter a number: "))
if user_number > 10:
    print("That number is big")

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Specification notes for programming are in Paper 2.