engineering-standardslisted

# Engineering Standards Conventions exist to remove decisions that do not matter, so attention goes to the ones that do. **The specific choice matters far less than the consistency** — three ways to do the same thing in one codebase is a defect even when all three work. --- ## Code that reads well Optimise for the reader. Code is read many more times than it is written, and usually by someone who has forgotten writing it. - **Names carry the meaning.** `daysUntilExpiry` beats `d`. A good name removes the need for a comment. - **Comments explain *why*, never *what*.** The code says what. A comment that restates the line is noise that will go stale; one that records the reason ("the provider returns 200 on failure, so we check the body") is permanent value. - **Functions do one thing** at one level of abstraction. Mixing "orchestrate the checkout" with "format a date string" in one function forces the reader to change altitude mid-sentence. - **Early returns over nesting.** Handle the failure and leave; keep the happy path unindented. - **Make illegal states unrepresentable.** A discriminated union beats a struct with six optional fields and a comment explaining which combinations are valid. - **Explicit over clever.** The clever line saves you a minute now and costs someone twenty later. - **Consistent error handling.** One approach per codebase, applied everywhere. **Match the codebase you are in.** Even where you would have chosen differently. Argue f