Nobody’s perfect and as a web designer/coder myself I don’t claim to be a professional or anything close to that. But there has been a few times where people have given me code to work on or to look over and there have been some really annoying things which are easily avoidable.

So here is just a small list of some of the things which can quite easily annoy a coder and have annoyed me in the past on many occasions.

1. 1,000+ lines of un-commented code
   - Im sure this is quite a common issue and most probably almost every coder will come across it at some stage. Too often have I been involved in scripts which have consisted of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of lines of code without a single comment to explain what it does. This usually tends to be the case when the original creator no longer works or supports the script and has therefore left it for someone else to take on. Because he/she was the original creator and did not pass on any hand-written notes he/she may have had (if any) then he/she is the only person who knows what the heck the code is doing. Yes it is possible to figure it all out but that can take hours and hours depending on the size/complexity of the script.
2. Too many comments
   - Having no comments at all is annoying but then there is the complete opposite of it. There are a huge number of PHP tutorials out there for beginners and I bet that a majority of them recommend that the user makes use of comments in their code. But unfortunately sometimes the coder takes this bit of advice too far. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about there is absolutely no need to write a comment for every single line of PHP code. We already know what echo does so theres no need to explain it! Show example
   
   < ?php
   // Set the first number variable
   $var1 = 1;

   // Set the second number variable
   $var2 = 2;

   // Set the third number variable
   $var3 = 3;

   // Create a new variable to hold the total
   $total = 0;

   // Add the first variable to the total
   $total = $total + $var1;

   // Add the second variable to the total
   $total = $total + $var2;

   // Add the third variable to the total
   $total = $total + $var3;

   // Copy the total variable into a new variable
   $totalcopy = $total;

   // Use the echo command to show the total to the screen
   echo $total;

   // Use the echo command to show the copied total to the screen
   echo $totalcopy;
   ?>
   

3. Really long comments
   - Again touching on the whole comments issue. Lets say there is a function called register_user(). Now this functions primary use (well… only use) is to take the supplied array of data and then insert it into a database. But such a simple function is often explained as something much more complex. There is no need to explain every single item in the supplied array - as long as the person reading the code understands what the function is doing that’s all that really matters. Show example
   
   < ?php
   /* In the main script (index) there is a HTML form which when
   submitted PHP processed. The script then goes through all of
   the forms fields and checks their values for length etc. Once
   checked they are put into an array called $details. This array
   contains every valid value which was submitted from that
   form. The first value which is the username is the desired
   username of the person trying to register. The second value
   is the password. This password is an md5 so that it is secure
   and cannot be retrieved in the database. The third value is
   the persons first name. The fourth value is the persons last
   name. The fifth value is the persons telephone number.
   */

   function register_user($details)
   {
   ...
   }
   ?>
   

4. Re-inventing the wheel
   - If you are a PHP coder yourself I’m sure you know of the include() function. This simple little function does nothing more than include another files content - so why are there people out there who try to complicate this process? Now I understand that if you are using some obscure method of error control then you may want to have further control over your functions but there is no need to create another function called include_file() which then just uses include(). Those pre-defined functions are there for a reason! Show example
   
   < ?php
   function include_file($file)
   {
   include($file);
   }
   ?>
   
5. Procedural code
   - Now different coders will have different views on this. Personally I prefer working with object oriented code not only because it is cleaner and easier to maintain but it is also easier to understand (I think so anyway) when looking at it in a large script. If you are developing a script which is of a considerable size or if it spans over a number of different files I highly suggest going the object oriented route. It is extremely annoying to have to go through hundreds, sometimes thousands of lines of code and replace multiple instances of the same thing throughout the script. This can be easily avoided with good use of an object oriented approach to coding.
6. Sudden change of plan
   - This is perhaps aimed at the client or the person who has asked the coder to write the script. After a coder has spent a week or so writing a couple thousand lines of code it is not a good idea to then suddenly say to him/her that you want to do something different. Now depending on what it is it may not be a lot of work to make the switch to the new requirements but this isn’t always the case. If you’ve asked for a system which allows users to upload and manage images - don’t suddenly say that you want it to upload and manage videos instead. If the coder is being paid he/she will more than likely act as if it isn’t that much of a problem but inside would like to just scream at you.

Obviously there are a lot more reasons than just the 6 above but I think they are some of the most common.