Reading Other People's Code

Explore techniques for effectively reading and understanding other people's code in this 56-minute conference talk by Patricia Aas at NDC Conferences. Develop methodical approaches to navigate large codebases, build mental models, and gain insights into fellow programmers' thought processes. Learn strategies for investigating GUI frameworks, utilizing integration and system tests, analyzing window layouts, and understanding interface implementations. Discover the importance of psychological safety in team excellence and appreciate the personal nature of great code. Gain practical skills to approach new codebases with curiosity and respect for individual coding styles.

Intro
Reading Other People's Code
If you approach other people's code wanting to learn You will learn if you approach to criticize: You will criticize
Code is the serialized version of a Mental Machine
Investigating Your GUI framework - Trace platform events Look at graphics output Find the platform integration architecture
Integration / System Tests - How to run it - Use Cases Write tests to drive the code you're looking at Write tests to examine your assumptions
Window Layout Find the Main Layout Find the implicit State Machine This is what changes the window contents Maps often to Use Cases
Which interfaces does it implement? Who uses it and how? Public functions are the mains of a class
What is the predictor of team excellence? Google's Project Aristotle concluded: Psychological Safety
Great code should be personal We want people to take pride in their work Learn to appreciate other people's code Style is individual