Following up on a previous post looking at characteristics of crappy software, PHPFreaks.com has posted ten more tips - this time, though, they're recommendations about how you can avoid writing crappy code of your own.

Here's their list:

• Learn OOP and common OO principles
• Employ Test Driven Design
• Refactor, refactor, refactor
• Simpler is better
• Use Design Patterns
• Don't Use Design Patterns
• Accept the limitations of your language
• Pretend you are writing a book
• Peer Review
• E_STRICT is your friend
• Create a distinction between "source code" and a "build"

That's right - there's a bonus one thrown in there to help out just a bit more. There's some good tips in there that any developer could benefit from no matter the skill level. They may not all be at your level, but at least they give you something to shoot for.

On PHPFreaks.com they have a new "top ten" list of signs to look out for to tell if you're dealing with crappy software or not.

Like it or not, as a professional developer, sooner or later you are going to do some customising (if you are lucky, "extending") of existing software. If you are not familiar with the software, it is good advice to look into it before accepting the job. I had to learn that the hard way. But how do you recognize crappy applications without getting knee deep into the code?

Their list of signs include:

• The software tries to reinvent the object model, or "fix" language features.
• Scattered HTML and SQL
• Multiple levels of inheritance
• In the code base, there is a directory called "core"