{"id":16051,"date":"2021-09-03T13:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.codemotion.com\/magazine\/?p=16051"},"modified":"2022-07-08T15:52:45","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T13:52:45","slug":"automation-coding-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.codemotion.com\/magazine\/backend\/automation-coding-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Coding Best Practices Automation Developers Should Implement"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTable Of Contents\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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  1. #01. Employ the Best RPA tools<\/a>
  2. #02. Know When to Avoid Hardcoding<\/a>
  3. #03. Follow a Strict Naming Convention<\/a>
  4. #04. Write Clean Code<\/a>
  5. Coding for the Low Code Future of Automation<\/a><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n

    With Robotic Process Automation (RPA) now a common business process for a number of industries, developing automation software and programming bots is a rapidly growing sphere of software development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For developers working in the burgeoning field of automation coding, the relative novelty of the discipline means there are some conflicting opinions over what constitutes best practice. We\u2019ve put together some basic tips for software developers looking to hone their coding skills for the brave new world of automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    #01. Employ the Best RPA tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    There\u2019s no shame in using whatever tools are available to help you design the best bots in the most efficient way. Just because you could <\/em>write every line of code yourself doesn\u2019t mean you should<\/em>. A video editor might be perfectly capable of editing their work using any number of professional techniques, but that doesn\u2019t mean they shouldn\u2019t also make use of a YouTube video maker<\/a> when appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the world of automation software, there are several tools that have proven themselves to be very handy when it comes to streamlining the development process. Platforms like Automation Anywhere have pioneered the way in engineering low code<\/a> solutions to the task of automating business processes and is one of the leading RPA tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When using traditional workflow management software as an automation tool, a software developer produces a list of actions needed to automate a task and an internal application programming interface (API) or dedicated scripting language to interface with a given system\u2019s back end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In contrast, RPA systems develop the action list by observing a user perform a task in the application\u2019s graphical user interface (GUI) and then perform the automation by repeating those tasks directly in the GUI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This lowers the barrier to use of automation and enables the deployment of automated solutions in the form of bots that boost the productivity of human workforces by removing the need to carry out routine tasks. It\u2019s thanks to RPA frameworks that we have seen such huge growth in the automation of customer service<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Other essential RPA tools for automation developers include preconfigured bots that can be incorporated into your own automation products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tasks that you might want to include in an automated process, such as text extraction and sorting, can be delegated to a number of powerful RPA tools. For example, Data scrapers and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) agents can be included as modules within a larger process of robotic automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    #02. Know When to Avoid Hardcoding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Put simply, hardcoding is the practice of embedding functions and values in the code itself, while softcoding refers to the use of configuration and parameters to refer to external resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In any form of coding, an overreliance on softcoding can lead to bloated code that shifts errors from compile time to run time, making them harder to detect. Nevertheless, it is best practice to avoid hardcoding commonly altered values. This rings especially true for cloud-based applications and automation programming, which often needs to be configured by an end-user without access to the source code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Of course, who your end-user is will inevitably depend on the nature of the software being developed. If you are developing automation for cybersecurity<\/a>, you can assume a certain degree of technical know-how. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But when writing code for automation software, you can\u2019t always assume a high level of code literacy. If your software product helps facilitate onboarding automation<\/a>, for example, your end-user is more likely to be HR team members with little background in software engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Avoiding unnecessary hardcode with end-users in mind is also important if your end-user is a developer, such as when writing testing automation scripts. Because hardcoded values have a tendency to break in the case of any application changes, it is best to rely on variable driven components for automated software testing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Components like locators can be kept out of your code by storing the respective values in a spreadsheet. This makes for easier modification of that component by your end-user without them having to change the source code at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    #03. Follow a Strict Naming Convention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Following a proper naming convention is a good idea no matter what type of programming you are doing. For automation developers, it is recommended by every automation centre of excellence<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Which convention you refer to will depend on the type of coding your project demands and the technologies it implements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, when it comes to designing bots, Automation Anywhere has a recommended variable naming convention:<\/p>\n\n\n\n