Writing Readable Code
Episode 10: The Future of Coding
(Last Updated: 2025.5.03)
Readable Code
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The Future of Coding
Over the past 9 episodes, we've covered concrete techniques and design principles to improve readability, maintainability, and extensibility in code. In this final episode, we'll look at how coding styles are changing and what we can do now to write more readable code for the future. Especially, utilizing AI is becoming a crucial skill. However, there are still many things that AI alone cannot do. Developers must still understand the fundamental principles of good design—something that hasn’t changed over time.
[Contents]
Trends in Future Coding Styles
Coexisting with AI (e.g., GitHub Copilot)
Revisiting Practical Guidelines
What Does “Good Code” Mean to You?
Final Thoughts
1. Trends in Future Coding Styles
Coding trends are shifting toward prioritizing readability and clarity over simply reducing lines of code. Emphasizing intent, test-first approaches, data-driven design, and adherence to the OCP principle are becoming standard. Structured design with frameworks and type safety is also spreading.
2. Coexisting with AI (e.g., GitHub Copilot)
The emergence of general-purpose conversational AIs like ChatGPT has made AI an integral part of the coding process. Code auto-completion and templating have advanced significantly. Tools like GitHub Copilot and IDE integrations with APIs and AI are now essential to productive development.
However, AI cannot express the "intent" or "context" behind development. Therefore, future developers must refine the code generated by AI, adding clarity and meaning. Human judgment is essential for naming, commenting, and code structure decisions. Moreover, developers will increasingly need to define rules aligned with their team's goals and reflect those in their code.
Hearing and consensus building are vital
3. Revisiting Practical Guidelines
Let’s review what’s essential for writing readable code. Here are six key points:
Maintain consistent naming rules
Ensure each function has a single responsibility
Reduce `if` statements and express logic structurally
Split functions early (“I'll fix it later” usually doesn’t happen)
Use logs and comments to explain “why”
Abstract and data-drive parts that are likely to change
The following table summarizes practical coding guidelines, divided by task. These mirror the six points above but are grouped by topic. These are critical and should always be followed.
Category Key Point
Naming Make the intent, target, and role explicit
Functions Limit responsibilities and avoid side effects
Comments Explain why; what you did is clear from the code
Tests Write small, reproducible, and easily breakable tests
Design Plan for change; protect with separation, abstraction, and layering
4. What Does “Good Code” Mean to You?
“Readable code” is not just for the author—it’s written for future readers. And that reader could be you in the future. If this series has helped you start thinking about what “good code” means to you, then that’s the biggest takeaway.
Where might the reader get confused?
Can you remember “why this implementation” when you look back later?
Can your teammates make the same decision based on your code?
Write your code while keeping these questions in mind
5. Final Thoughts
Writing readable code is not just a technical skill—it’s an act of kindness to your future self and fellow developers. Even with the rise of AI, tasks like designing, explaining, deciding, and sharing intent are still human domains. That’s the real skill developers will need moving forward. May your code support your team and your future self. Think about what “good code” means to you—in your own words.
▼Recommended Books and Resources
“The Art of Readable Code” by Dustin Boswell and Trevor Foucher, translated by Masanori Kado, O'Reilly Japan
