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Here's the secret to grokking a software project: a given codebase is not understandable without understanding how and why it was built; i.e. if you didn't buil
by MrMcCall 2y ago
Here's the secret to grokking a software project: a given codebase is not understandable without understanding how and why it was built; i.e. if you didn't build it, you're not going to understand why it is the way it is.
In theory, the codebase should be, as it is, understandable (and it is, with a great deal of rigorous study). In reality, that's simply not the case, not for any non-trivial software system.
- thfuran 2y agoSo your secret to understanding code is: Abandon hope all ye who enter here?
- marcosdumay 2y agoOh, you will understand why things were built. It's inevitable. And all of that understanding will come from people complaining about you fixing a bug.
- MrMcCall 2y agoHard work is no secret, it's just avoided by slackers at all costs :-) What I'm really saying is that our software development software is missing a very important dimension.
- gwervc 2y agoToo bad most projects don't document any of those decisions.
- xnx 2y agoLLMs might be a good argument for documenting more of the "why" in code comments.