The Fromagier's Commandments for Development

There are any number of these lists out there - these are just the ones that come to mind right now. I imagine this list will grow over time as I find more pain to reduce. Generally these commandments come about because some fool has caused pain in such fashion.

• Thou shalt not ever check in code that does not compile.
• If thou shouldst check in code that does not compile, thou shalt fix the error while forsaking all other tasks.
• Thou shalt never consider "It works on my machine" a valid defense of errors.
• Thou shalt document thine code with real descriptions.
• Thou shalt use descriptive method and attribute names.
• Thou shalt always use full descriptions of changes when checking in code - "some changes" or "" shall incur wrath.
• Thou shalt avoid the use of constants-only classes or interfaces as thou wouldst avoid a plague of locusts.
• Thou shalt read Effective Java http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/ thoroughly and use as a reference.
• Thou shalt always unit test
• Thou shalt never underestimate the value of quick peer code reviews.
• Thou shalt always favor the interface over the class implementation in method names especially in external interfaces.
  For example, the method ArrayList getObjects() should, instead, be coded as List getObjects() or Collection getObjects in most cases.