Software Best Practices Training topics needed

[gangesTech]

Sorry to post this mundane question here, but I need help!

I have to do a 1 hour Software Best Practices Training for some programmers in my company. Audience are Freshers to couple of years experience guys.

Can you guys please suggest some relevant topics I can cover?

I could think of the following:

1) Importance of following coding standards, indentation
2) Proper naming of files, variables, functions, classes, tables, columns, views and all other artifacts
3) Layer your application - each layer must address a specific concern
4) Abstract common stuff into reusable utility classes

Any help will be greatly appreciated
(A positive response to this post & I promise I will contribute to the community by replying to at least 10 threads!)

[Nepomuk]

Well... how about the importance of good comments and, in general, proper documentation? I have often found, that many programmers have problems with this if they haven't been properly trained in it.

Greetings,
Nepomuk

[Joseph Martell]

Maybe this is a little outside of what you are looking for, but how about the importance of working with each other. It is very easy to sit down in your own little cubicle and work on your list of things to do all day long, but working with your peers and bouncing ideas off of each other can be very valuable.

Also, you could address the importance of consistency and when to break it. Consistency can be a double-edged sword: it creates a system that is easier to maintain by multiple people, but it can create a box that people are afraid to step outside.

[Monomachus]

I would say refactoring is one of the most important thing to do once in a while. May be this and unit testing to be sure that everything runs fine after your refactoring is a good practice for any developer