Thread: Software Best Practices Training topics required

5) Optimizing. Make sure the avoid doing complicated optimizations from the beginning, but also for them to know the general cost of a function and not use too costly functions in a big loop.

6) Memory management. Make sure the use when possible things like a vector and for their class to handle memory more dyanamic, typically making classes that free everything in their destructors or using vector instead of "new array". In general, automatic memory management is more reliable.

7) Design and then implement. Similar to 4). Make sure they plan their classes first before starting implementing anything to avoid changing things later on all the time which result in nasty bugs.

8) Documentation and clarity. Putting comments when necessary. A UML diagram might be useful sometimes. Show an example on this on how "if you had documented your code you would have avoided this and that". Mostly to keep track on the big picture since a lot lose track after a couple of weeks on what they have done here and there. Their code should be clear, avoid using complex statements in order to avoid allocating some variables things like fun1(fun2(), fun3(fun4()), fun5()); etc etc

If you are talking with respect to C++, which I presume is the case since you posted on this forum, then check out Sutter and Alexandrescu's C++ Coding Standards. A substantial portion of the material is specific to C++, but the chapters on "organizational and policy issues", "design style", "class design and inheritance" and some of "coding style" contain material that is more widely applicable.