Earlier this year, precisely in March, Kenneth’s article on Code Reuse attracted a lot of attentions. So, in this interview, Kenneth speaks on his journey as a digital expert:

TE: You appear deeply rooted in software development. How did you get into it?

Kenneth Nwanganga (KN): My interest in software development began back in 2004 when I started computer training, I have always been interested in web development, I started learning HTML using notepad. When I created my first html file, and I opened it in Internet explorer to see the result, I was so excited to see my first code displayed on a browser; that made me pursue a diploma in software engineering. I have learnt a lot of programing languages like Java, C#, HTML, CSS, and C++.

TE: Can you remember the first gig you executed?

KN: The first major website I did was an ecommerce website back in 2009.

TE: What has been your best project so far?

KN: One of my best projects so far has to be the ERP I built for GIG Mobility, the joy that comes from having a product that everyone uses is somehow unexplainable. When I check social media I see a lot of customers talking about the app and how it has revolutionised the industry. Anyone that wants to build a transport app in Nigeria always uses the GIGM app as a benchmark to what they want to build. When we make changes to our apps, it doesn’t take long other transport companies will do same as well.

TE: In the present digital economy, software is everything. But most large corporate prefer to patronise foreign software. Why?

KN: The main reason for this is because business owners still don’t understand that we have a lot of talented individuals in the country, I can tell you for a fact that some foreign software companies prefer to use Nigerian developers for projects simply because of how hardworking we are. One other reason will be because they trust these foreign organizations to protect their data unlike the local developers.

TE: Is there something indigenous software developers need to get right? 

KN: For anyone to be relevant in the digital industry, he/she needs to keep leaning new technologies. Right now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are most talked about technologies right now, indigenous developers need to study these technologies and put them to use in different sections of the country.

TE: In your recent article, you discussed software reuse. What is the concept about?

KN: This for me is one aspect of software development that is not being talked about the way it should be. Making use of this technique will save people time and it will also enable individuals who are enthusiastic about the digital world to get into this as quickly as possible. Imagine having access to a lot of codebases and all you need is to make little changes or combine different source codes and create a fantastic product, that’s a big achievement, you don’t necessarily having learn line-by-line. I believe we need to educate people more on the importance of code reuse.

TE: Who is the most important in a team: The software developer or product manager?

KN: For me, everyone is very important, and it would be difficult to say that one is more important than the other. Each role brings unique skills and perspectives that are essential to the success of a project.

To successfully launch a product, a team of software developers and product managers collaborate closely. Although the software developer uses their technical expertise to construct and improve the product, the product manager establishes the product strategy and priorities.

While the software developer relies on the product manager to establish the direction and vision for the product, the product manager depends on the software developer to ensure that the product is designed to match customer expectations and is technically feasible. I have played both roles in my career and I can confirm that both are crucial to the success of a product launch.9. What should the industry expect from you in the nearest future?

I will be focusing a lot on AI for payments, I want see how I can embed AI into the payment space.

Creating products that are AI driven, with Apple, you have Siri that is able to do a lot of things for you on your phone; I want to study about how AI can help simplify everyday payments. Having something that studies your spending habits and know how often you make some purchases, with that, it should be able to set reminders and let you know when you need to make those purchases and possible do them for you with a click or a voice command.

TE: Thank you so much for your time.

Kenneth Nwanganga: It is my pleasure and thanks to TechEconomy’s team for all you do for the ecosystem.

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As an experienced Enterprise Architect with a proven track record of successfully aligning technology with business goals. I have identified some technical ways to gain a better understanding of how software code syntax and code structure work and how to easily pick up the new programming language.

Business owners most times don’t care about what programming language developers use in delivering their projects, they care more about functionality, usability, security, and scalability. We need to get a deeper understanding of what code syntaxes and code structures are.

When I started as a front-end developer, I learnt how to make use of notepad to write my codes, I hardly use IDEs, the IDEs available then were Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage but I chose to write using notepad so that I can understand what the browser is interpreting to the user.

If you are thinking of becoming a senior developer or you are thinking about getting into software development, my advice to you is that, always make use of code editors, it’s easier these days with the availability of code editors like Visual Studio Code, Notepad ++ and so on.

Knowing the meaning of each word that makes up the language is not enough; you must also understand how to put those words together in order to communicate.

Imagine having access to the definitions of every word used in the English language without being aware of how sentences are put together. Despite having a very large vocabulary, you would be unable to put it to use.

Programming languages follow the same rule. You must comprehend a programming language’s syntax in order to use it.

During the development of a bus booking platform which I was heavily involved in as the architect of the said application, there was little struggle with the understanding of the .NET core framework due to the fact that this was new framework released by Microsoft at that time, but one thing that gave the team breakthrough was the fact that the team members were already familiar with the .NET framework.

Most times these syntaxes are always very similar to each other, just a few changes on how to make use of it within an application.

My foundation in programming is solid because I took my time to understand what basic code syntaxes are, it’s not even enough to just know syntax, you must also understand the possible errors that come with invalid syntax which occur when the code does not conform to the rules of the language.

Syntax can vary between programming languages and the best way to learn the syntax of a language is by taking a look at sample codes, understanding the data types (int, char, var, string etc) you will always find several videos and articles of any programming language on the internet today. I have talked about code structure a bit but let’s talk more about this.

Code structure, on the other hand, refers to the way in which the code is organized and the relationships between different parts of the codebase. It is the overall design and architecture of the code.

I remember the first major ERP I built in my early days as a developer, I often time hear the project manage and some senior developers talk about structuring the codes in a way that if anyone picks up the project they will be able to understand what has been written, this is a very good example of what a good code structure will do for you. If you have good code structure, it’ll be easier to debug the code and make changes faster.

A well-structured codebase is usually easy to understand, even if you haven’t seen the code before. It follows a consistent style and naming conventions, during the period I was learning advanced software engineering, we all got used to naming our buttons with btn, naming text with txt, Labels with lbl, once I pick up a project and I go to the backend if I see things like this, I already know what those controls are for. During the ERP I was working on, the MVC framework was used for the user-interface. With MVC, you already have a structure and separation of concerns.

What code structure does in programming is to create an easy way to make modifications, locate code syntax and make your entire application easily understandable. Imagine a code structure where your code logic is bundled inside the interface, this will look very messy.

For people trying to learn new programming languages, the first thing you need to consider is the code syntax. Once you understand the way the programming language expects its variables, arguments, parameters and so on, it’ll be easy for you to quickly gain full understanding of how that language works.

Let’s take a look at the various ways to output “Hello World” in few programming languages.

In the above example, all a developer needs to understand is how these programming languages compile and run its code snippets.

Programming is all about problem solving, as long as you understand what the problem is, you are one step away from getting a solution.

We’ve already established how output from different programming languages looks like, when writing in another programming language, the developer will be conscious of rendering his/her output the right way.

I have listed some of the most important things you need to understand to be able to pick up any programming language easily:

Data Types:

Data types is the fundamental thing everyone needs to learn and understand when picking up a new programming language, you will need to learn how that new programming uses its data types. A full list of data types can be found here

Selection statements

Selection statements such as if, switch, etc. are very important, you need to be able to know how to use them and where to use them.

Let’s look at the examples below:

Once you are able to understand the different data types each programming language uses and how they are used, you won’t struggle with any of the languages you want to code in.

Having been involved in several projects which were written in different programming languages, I have always found it easy to work with any developer regardless of the programming language he/she is using simply because I understand code structure and syntax.

In summary, understanding code syntax and structure is crucial for writing efficient and maintainable software.

Knowing the rules of the language you’re working with and organizing the code in a logical and consistent way can make a big difference in how easy it is to develop, test, and debug your code.

About the Author:

Kenneth Nwangangais the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at GIGM; a Nigerian-based technologically powered transportation company that operates in many African countries. He is responsible for the company’s technical operations and plays a key role in the development and implementation of new technologies and systems to improve the company’s services and operations.

Kenneth holds a first class degree in Computing from the University of Greenwich in London and an Advanced Diploma in Software Engineering from APTECH Computer Institute in Nigeria.

Software development has become relatively easy to go into, after all you don’t really need to write all your codes yourself.

While writing this, I was just thinking about how long it would have taken me to deliver on several projects I have worked on. I have at many points reused a lot of code base over the years.

In fact I actually have a collection of codebase I reference every time I am working on a new project, say I am involved in a payment platform, I know that I will need a code that will convert an input to amount/currency, I have only written this code once and used it in several projects.

The advancement of the digital age has created a pathway for developers to reuse existing code snippets, thanks to early developers who have solved many complex problems using their skills. Generally, software development is about solving real-world issues. Every application is made-up of different code snippets, whether you are building an application that reports the current time or you are building an application that processes customer orders, you’ll definitely combine some code logic to arrive at a solution.

A lot of people think software development is complex. If they truly understand how powerful and useful code reuse can be, they’ll really see software development in a different way. As a senior developer, I’ve discovered that whenever I return to Google to look for answers to coding-related issues I’ve already resolved (such as splitting a comma-separated string, converting double to amount, and many other issues), I end up using the same code I did before.

Code reuse is essential in software development because it allows programmers to write the same code over and over again. It saves time, money, and resources; and helps reduce errors by increasing overall quality of products. When business owners hear that you can save them money, they are always happy and will welcome the idea of cost saving, after all nobody likes to waste money.

What is code reuse?

Code reuse means the use of a piece of software in multiple applications. If developers were to replicate some existing applications such as Facebook, it’ll take them less time than it took the original developers because most of the functionalities they require can be found in some open-source repositories. The role that code reuse plays in software development is so huge, it has helped companies save time and money.

One of the most important techniques that software engineers employ to shorten development cycles and boost productivity is source code reuse.

Stack Overflow is One of the most well-known places for developers to look for answers to common issues. There is a saying that many developers would have lost their employment if Stack Overflow goes offline for a week, and this paradigm allows developers to reuse codes or solutions from other developers.

Imagine if everyone had to construct their Blockchain system from the start; it would take a very long time, especially during the creation of smart contacts. This is another example of how code reuse has been beneficial.

Conclusion

Not because developers lack the ability to produce code that will solve their problems, but rather because they feel there is no need to reinvent the wheel, more than 70% of developers rely on code reuse.

The majority of problems in today’s world already have a solution. Utilizing existing codes will speed up development, increase output, and reduce costs. Through this initiative, developers will be able to work together more effectively and reduce code duplication in apps.

I encourage developers to create a personal repository of small pieces of code they believe are often used by them, so that once the need to implement something similar comes, they know exactly where to get such code from. Time they say is money, the more you practice code reuse the more money you save.

About the Author:

Kenneth Nwanganga is the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at GIGM; a Nigerian-based technologically powered transportation company that operates in many African countries. He is responsible for the company’s technical operations and plays a key role in the development and implementation of new technologies and systems to improve the company’s services and operations.

Kenneth holds a first class degree in Computing from the University of Greenwich in London and an Advanced Diploma in Software Engineering from APTECH Computer Institute in Nigeria.