When AI writes the code, clean code becomes the developer’s most important job.

Prerequisite

Basic Drupal development knowledge
Experience reading and reviewing code
Some exposure to AI coding tools is helpful but not required

Target Audience

Developers working with AI assistance

Outline

AI tools can generate working code faster than ever—but working code is no longer always the hard part. The real challenge is reading, reviewing, and maintaining code that humans can understand and trust.
In this session, we’ll revisit the principles of clean code through a modern lens: a world where developers increasingly review AI‑generated code instead of writing every line by hand. We’ll explore what “clean code” means when the author might be a machine, and why readability, intent, and consistency matter more than ever.
Using Drupal backend examples, we’ll look at common issues introduced by AI‑assisted development and how to refactor them into code that communicates clearly. The focus is not on style rules, but on writing code that makes reviews faster, safer, and more effective.
Attendees will leave with practical guidelines for evaluating, refactoring, and enforcing clean code standards in AI‑assisted Drupal projects and an understanding why this matters more than ever.

Learning Objectives

After this session, participants will be able to:

Understand why clean code is critical in AI‑assisted development
Evaluate AI‑generated code for clarity, intent, and maintainability
Recognize common clean‑code violations introduced by AI tools
Refactor Drupal backend code to improve readability and reviewability
Adopt a “review‑first” mindset for modern development workflows

Experience level
Intermediate