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> Sometimes I don’t even recognize me as the author for a while. This happened to me just yesterday! I was helping a co-worker with a problem, and I noticed so

> Sometimes I don’t even recognize me as the author for a while. This happened to me just yesterday! I was helping a co-worker with a problem, and I noticed some redundant code in the same function, so I told him he could simplify it while he was there. His response was, "...but you wrote that". (And as it turns out, only a few days prior!)

gmueckl 7y ago
This is why I will point out issues in code only on the form of stating potential improvements as best as I can. I especially try to avoid hating on the author - it might have been me or the boss who's standing nearby... In fact, I often conciously refrain from using blame on an "interesting" piece of code because it doesn't matter who wrote it. Looking it up would just satisfy idle curiosity, but yield noninsight into how to improve the code. In fact, I think that blame should just list the commits, but hide the authors by default. "What changed? " and "how?" are always much more pressing questions than "who?".
- Macha 7y ago
  My experience varies a lot. Maybe it's just my colleagues write better commit messages but blame (and looking up the PR and code review) is often a good method of understanding why the code is that way
  - gmueckl 7y ago
    Yes, but blame puts the focus too much on the authors instead of the changes themselves. I also use it to understand how code evolved over time, but only in circumstances where I suspect the history to hold import clues. Pinning bad work on a person does not make progress. Fixing bad code does.
retiredcoder 7y ago
I am coming back from vacations next week and have 2 PRs to finish (couldn’t merge before because they are high risk), I am antecipating a lot of pain just to pick them up where I left off... I would rather do my tax returns instead lol
tigershark 7y ago
It always happens to me while I approve my own pull requests to master.. :’(

gmueckl 7y ago

This is why I will point out issues in code only on the form of stating potential improvements as best as I can. I especially try to avoid hating on the author - it might have been me or the boss who's standing nearby... In fact, I often conciously refrain from using blame on an "interesting" piece of code because it doesn't matter who wrote it. Looking it up would just satisfy idle curiosity, but yield noninsight into how to improve the code. In fact, I think that blame should just list the commits, but hide the authors by default. "What changed? " and "how?" are always much more pressing questions than "who?".

Macha 7y ago
My experience varies a lot. Maybe it's just my colleagues write better commit messages but blame (and looking up the PR and code review) is often a good method of understanding why the code is that way
- gmueckl 7y ago
  Yes, but blame puts the focus too much on the authors instead of the changes themselves. I also use it to understand how code evolved over time, but only in circumstances where I suspect the history to hold import clues. Pinning bad work on a person does not make progress. Fixing bad code does.

retiredcoder 7y ago

I am coming back from vacations next week and have 2 PRs to finish (couldn’t merge before because they are high risk), I am antecipating a lot of pain just to pick them up where I left off... I would rather do my tax returns instead lol

tigershark 7y ago

It always happens to me while I approve my own pull requests to master.. :’(