About Bubble Convention document

What, when, why, who, how?

Official name: Bubble Convention

We haven't got a better name for this. Python's PEP8 sounds so cool, please help us with bringing about some cool names like that.

Published date: 2023-02-18

Version: 1.0

What is this?

Our fellow pro-coders should be familiar with coding conventions. Python's PEP8 for example is a popular convention that helps Python developers to agree on how code should be written. In other words, conventions are standardizations.

We wanted to created the same thing for Bubble.

Why do we need conventions tho?

Products, regardless of them being no-code or pro-code, are barely developed in a vacuum. A project usually requires multiple hands to be joined. Conventions, like this one, create standardized frameworks that everyone can follow, such as how to name things, where to put things, so that it would be easier for everyone to communicate and understand each other's code.

Pro-coders should already understand how important conventions are, but for no-coders, imagine learning Bubble is like learning syntax, and knowing conventions are being able to produce good grammars. Of course, you can speak caveman, people understand, no problem, it ok. But, good grammars are undeniably better for smooth conversations.

This came from our own experience as we worked in our projects and had to standardize where states should be put, how to name database tables, etc so others could navigate with ease. We believe many others do this as well, but someone should stand up to build a standardized version to benefit not just proficient builders but also newcomers who are still learning.

We developers have always been concerned with User Experience, reflected in our designs and functionalities. Nevertheless, we should not forget the vital part of Developer Experience, reflected in how we cope with things behind the scenes.

What if I don't want to follow standards?

These "standards" we are talking about never are obligations. You can always do whatever you want, but that comes with the cost of friction. Nevertheless, even though we are calling these "standards", you should only use this document as a learning resource or a reference because it is not perfect, and teams usually have their own standards that better fit them. We, however, will try to make this document as universal as possible.

Who should read this?

Any one that works with Bubble should read this, from newbies to seniors. We believe following standards helps newbies learn quicker and produce easier-to-read codes (or no-code?) and seniors maintain their legacy code better (if they ever do that).

However, it would be a bit more difficult for new Bubblers to read, since some features would be a bit technical-heavy. We will provide a lot of explanations though.

Who owns this document?

This is a product of CitizenDev, but it should also be owned by the community. This is totally free-to-use, copylefted, and maintained by the community (and also CitizenDev team).

If you want to contribute, please refer to this section.