How does it read? Pick a module, remove all its commentary. Read the code, possibly aloud. Can you follow it? Do the method names make sense? Is the layout consistent? Good code expresses the programmer's intent in clear, readable code that doesn't depend on comments. Comments, where they exist should only have to explain the why of the code. The code itself should tell you how.

Is there a fully automated test suite? The lack of one doesn't necessarily mean the system is crap, but it's not a good sign.

Try and implement a new feature (or ask another programmer to do so). How hard was it? Can it be done? Can it be tested?

Will the software engineering company stand behind their code? Will they give you a warranty (unlikely) it (or offer a reasonably priced support contract).

In reply to Re: Perl Code Quality by pdcawley
in thread Perl Code Quality by Micz

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.