The importance of planning in JavaScript
Published: 2023-10-17 19:46:39

In the fast-paced world of web development, coding in JavaScript can be both exciting and frustrating. Technology constantly improves, forcing developers to constantly adapt and find efficient ways to write clean, efficient, and maintainable code. One crucial aspect of achieving this is planning ahead in your projects. In this blog post, we'll review the importance of planning ahead when coding and explore how it can lead to more successful and stress-free days.

## Why Plan Ahead in JavaScript Coding?

**1. Code Organization**
The most apparent reason to plan ahead is having cleaner, and more organized code. Sitting down to code without any sort of a plan is an easy way to end up with more than just a cluttered mind, but also cluttered code that is both harder to read and harder to maintain. Coding in this way leads to far more bugs and usually ends in a headache of error codes, and lots of time wasted trying to find the cause of them.

When you take a few minutes to plan out your project, you create a solid starting point for yourself. This could mean outlining the main objects/functions or just thinking about how you want everything to interact with each other.

Let's take a look at a simple example:


```
// Without planning ahead
function calculateTotalPrice() {
  // Code for calculating the total price
}

function displayOrderSummary() {
  // Code for displaying the order summary
}

function submitOrder() {
  // Code for submitting the order
}
```


In the code above, it can be hard to understand how each function relates to the rest, but with some better planning it could look like this:


```
// With planning ahead
const order = {
  calculateTotalPrice() {
    // Code for calculating the total price
  },
  
  displayOrderSummary() {
    // Code for displaying the order summary
  },
  
  submitOrder() {
    // Code for submitting the order
  }
};
```


By thinking ahead and adding each related function into an object, the code immediately both looks better and is easier to read/maintain!

**2. Preventing Scope Issues**
Scope-related issues are a common source of bugs in JavaScript. Planning ahead can help you avoid such problems by defining clear boundaries for variables and functions.

Consider the following code:


```
function addToTotal(value) {
  let total = 0;
  total += value;
}

function calculateTax() {
  // Code to calculate tax
  total += tax; // Oops! 'total' is not defined here
}
```

Without proper planning, it's easy to encounter scope issues like the one above. By planning your code and thinking about variable scopes beforehand, you can prevent such errors and ensure that variables are accessible where they need to be.

**3. Enhanced Debugging and Testing**
Debugging and testing are integral parts of the development process. Planning ahead will make your code easier to debug as well as much more testable! You can make smaller more specific modules that you can individually test, which makes fixing your code much easier.

Additionally, planning can help you add error handling from the start. This proactive approach ensures that you catch potential problems early in the development cycle, saving you time and frustration down the road.

## Practical Tips for Planning Ahead in JavaScript

Now that we've established the importance of planning ahead, let's explore some practical tips to help you implement planning strategies in your projects.

**1. Define Clear Objectives**
Start by defining clear objectives for your project. What are you trying to achieve, and what functionality should your code provide? Consider writing a project outline or a list of user stories to clarify your goals.

**2. Break Down Your Project**
Break your project down into smaller, manageable tasks or modules. Think about the components that make up your application and how they interact with each other. Create a visual diagram to help yourself comprehend all of your components, and how they interact with the rest of your code.

**3. Use Pseudocode**
Before you start writing real code, write out some pseudocode to ensure you have a strong grasp on your project. Doing this will greatly help you have a more complete plan, and potentially see issues you may have early on.

**4. Scalability and Future-Proofing:**
Imagine you build a small website for your friends to upload their vacation pictures to and share them, and they show their friends and suddenly everyone wants to use this tiny website you made. Thankfully you planned ahead and wrote your code in a way that it's easy to upscale the website to be accessible for everyone that wants to join. Coding with a plan and a forward-thinking mentality allows for your code to remain relevant even when you have to change something, or upscale it.

**5. Document Your Code**
Effective documentation is essential for understanding and maintaining your code. Include comments and documentation for your functions, classes, and complex logic. This practice helps both you and anyone else that may be working on the project.

**Conclusion**
Planning ahead is a fundamental aspect of successful JavaScript development. It allows you to create well-organized, maintainable, and bug-free code. By defining clear objectives, breaking down your project, using pseudocode, future-proofing your code, and documenting your code, you can ensure your projects run smoothly and efficiently.

Remember that while planning may require some upfront time and effort, it ultimately saves you time and headaches in the long run. So, the next time you set out on a coding adventure, take a moment to plan ahead, it's a small investment that can lead to significant rewards in the end. Happy coding!