The program should be written in a good style so that it is understandable to a reader. A good program is efficient in solving the given program.
Here are some of the characteristics of a good program :
Effective and Efficient
User Friendly
Self-Documenting Code
Reliable
Portable
I. Effective and Efficient
The program produces correct results and works faster, taking into account of the memory constraints.
II. User Friendly
The user should not be concerned about inside the program, a program should work with the user by understandable messages and user work should be very low. The user should only be responsible to provide input the rest of the program should do.
III. Self-Documenting Code
A good program must be self-documented. The source code uses meaningful names for variables, subprograms and other constants.
IV. Reliable
The program must be able to handle unexpected situations like wrong data or no data, it should display a proper message or error message when dealing with no data or wrong data input.
V. Portable
A good program should be able to run on all platforms without any errors or difficulties.