7 mistakes that every .Net developer should avoid making

Often there are errors when a new application is programmed. As a result of this it does not run as per expectations. Though Microsoft keeps adding new features to ease the developers’ work and make things interactive but the errors keep occurring. Some are minor mistakes while others are major – both can impact the performance in a negative way. Thus it is important that every .Net developer keeps in mind some of the common mistakes so as to avoid them in the beginning and not regret later. The 7 mistakes that can be avoided are:

1.     Not being able to achieve browser compatibility - Users have a large choice of web browsers to access the different applications. While Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome are popular and catered for in the coding, certain cross-browser compatibility issues do crop up while testing. These can be minor problems regarding placement of elements, but they can have a negative impact on the performance of the application. Customized testing tools that can help check whether the application is performing as per expectations, across the widely used web browsers, are the solution.

2.             Not adhering to Complier Warnings -  Developers tend to ignore warnings from the compiler during the coding stage. This creates major problems later on and so should not be ignored. Apart from this, the programmer is supposed to test the application unit wise so as to identify where the error lies and also fix the minor problems early in the process.

3.             Not documenting for upgrade and reuse – Often developers skip the code documentation part. As a part of the development team, documentation of code is important so others can upgrade it later as per need. This can be done by adding comments that make accessing the codes an easier job. Also, most users reuse code to save their time and efforts. While coding, separating the user-control and creating a separation between different elements will make the code reusable. In bigger applications, the property definitions need to be repeated several times. Mapping tools like Automapper etc can be used in such cases for more efficiency and accuracy.

4.             Not preserving the stack - MSDN guidelines call for the developers to preserve the stack trace for the original exception. .NET programmers often break the stack while throwing exceptions. This is a simple but common mistake with grave repercussions. This can be avoided if the developers review the code to fix the problem, and avoid losing the stack trace. Preservation of stack is useful as it eases out the process of debugging an application. It also helps to locate the exact error details in the error log.

5.             Not Disposing the IDisposable Object Properly - According to MSDN guidelines, the developers need to declare and instantiate each IDisposable object. For this they need to use the using statement. This is an effective method which makes the object go out of scope immediately. However, when developers forget to use the using statement, the object does not get disposed properly and creates errors later on.

6.             Not verifying the data adequately – The data that is used in the application can be processed and manipulated in a number of different ways in the application code. This calls for verification of each type of data both for validity as well as integrity. Amongst many things, the data should not return a null character. Therefore a thorough check of the data before execution is mandatory. Applications that require inputs from users need more attention for data verification aspect to ensure smooth functioning. Developers will be able to handle situations better once they have identified the data that returns null values.

7.             Not using the right web services in the application - Web services are assumed to be an integral part of each of .Net project. Developers do not analyze the web services’ pros and cons and use many different web services in their applications. Choosing the right web service is the key to boosting performance and efficiency while an incompatible one can do just the opposite. Therefore evaluation of relevance and necessity of service for a particular application is essential. Here the developer has a lot of choice and with the technology available can even use remote services to their advantage.

It is essential for a developer to understand .Net development to the fullest in order to incorporate the best practices in the same which will result in an efficient build. Apart from the common mistakes listed above, there are some of the tips and tricks used by other Dotnet developers that can also help. Building an application without committing coding errors might not seem to be humanly possible. However developers can aim to reduce the errors and provide an efficient solution.