Rather than talk about programming or programming issues, the work of WG21 etc, I've decided to talk about something far closer to my heart; the state of computer programming courses in education at all levels.

Recently, I've been thinking hard about what makes code maintainable, and how to write code to be maintainable. This interest has partly been driven by the mentoring of those starting out in C++ that I've been doing, both through the ACCU mentored developers program, and for work.

The principles I've identified have not really been hidden; since they've been widely documented for years, and they're actually things that most good developers do as a matter of course. However, as with many things, you don't necessarily realize their benefits until you rediscover them yourself.

Please note that participation in this competition is open to all members. The title reflects the fact that the code used is normally provided by a student as part of their course work.

This item is part of the Dialogue section of C Vu, which is intended to designate it as an item where reader interaction is particularly important. Readers' comments and criticisms of published entries are always welcome.