Task Automation
Coding conventions allow to have simple scripts or programs whose job is to process source code for some purpose other than compiling it into an executable. It is common practice to count the software size (Source lines of code) to track current project progress or establish a baseline for future project estimates.
Consistent coding standards can, in turn, make the measurements more consistent. Special tags within source code comments are often used to process documentation, two notable examples are javadoc and doxygen. The tools specify the use of a set of tags, but their use within a project is determined by convention.
Coding conventions simplify writing new software whose job is to process existing software. Use of static code analysis has grown consistently since the 1950s. Some of the growth of this class of development tools stems from increased maturity and sophistication of the practitioners themselves (and the modern focus on safety and security), but also from the nature of the languages themselves.
Read more about this topic: Coding Conventions
Famous quotes containing the words task and/or automation:
“To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Besides black art, there is only automation and mechanization.”
—Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)