Often you can deduce the "why" from the code because it makes some sense, but you can almost never find out is the "why not" . Have they tried something else ?

Often you can deduce the "why" from the code because it makes some sense, but you can almost never find out is the "why not" . Have they tried something else ? Was it the best solution chosen after a review or something quickly put together ? Likely you'll never know.