𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 One thing that makes a massive difference in the real world is 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐬. I can’t count how many times I’ve gone back to a Python script weeks later and thought, “Who wrote this?”, only to realise it was me. Adding proper logging, print statements, and comments doesn’t just help others understand your work, it helps you when things inevitably break. 𝐀 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐲: ▪️ Add meaningful log messages, not just “print(‘done’)” ▪️ Comment sections clearly so debugging is faster ▪️ Use structured logs for clarity when things go wrong ▪️ Treat your future self as another engineer who’ll be reading this code You don’t realise how powerful this is until you’re debugging something at 2 AM. #Python #DataEngineering #Debugging #DevOps #DataOps #Logging #SoftwareEngineering #CodeQuality #LearningInPublic
When I first started coding, I thought comments were to help others understand my code. I quickly realised that it was to help me understand the mess that I coded months after I had long forgotten about it.
True, but I’d add that well-named functions reduce the number of comments . If the name explains the purpose, you’re already halfway to readable code.
'Commenting saves your sanity' , truer words have never been spoken! I've adopted the rule: if I had to think about it for more than 30 seconds while writing it, it needs a comment. The time you invest in documentation pays dividends the moment something breaks in production.