Reading code

“When I get a Code Review request, I always open it. If it is a one line change, I click ‘Looks Good’, otherwise I’ll close it and let someone else deal with it”

Derek

Derek said this in jest, but the thing is, it is actually true. Derek avoids doing Code Reviews because he just wants to write code, or simply chill out. Or that was my interpretation anyway.

Developers should always partake in Code Reviews. It helps enforce Coding Standards, and helps your team learn from each other. It’s also mandatory for our code to be approved before we can commit it, so it’s good if is done promptly.

It winds me up that Derek never does them (well, it’s a rare event). It was part of his job as a Developer, but he is a Senior; so it is definitely part of his job.

Anyway, shortly after moving over to Git source control, Derek calls me over and asks me how he can grab the code from the Pull Request (Git’s nomenclature for Code Review) so he can test it out himself. I was quite shocked he actually was looking at one. Anyway, he comes out with this quote for the reason he wanted to test the code out:

“Some people are better at reading code and understanding it than others”

Derek

He was stating a reason he doesn’t do Code Reviews is that he finds it difficult to read code, and can only really understand it if he can step through it using the debugger.

The thing is, reading code is a major part of what a developer does. I think it’s a huge struggle if you can’t work things out and picture how it pieces together simply by reading. Sure, debugging does help, and is required with more complex and abstract areas… but; a Code Review is usually a small change. The changes are clearly highlighted with the editor with a Before and After view, with the colour Green showing additions and Red showing deletions. It will be linked to a Bug report so you know the Developer’s intention. They will (or should) have written a good Commit Message which will show in the History when they check it in. What extra help does he really want/need?