Process
5 min read
Reading other people’s code on the train
A forty-minute commute is a good reading list. How I pick a repository, what I look for and what I write down.
My commute is forty minutes on a train with no signal. Two years ago I started using it to read code instead of the news.
Pick something you use
I choose a small library I already depend on. Reading it answers questions I actually have, and I notice when it is doing something odd.
Start at the tests
Tests tell you what the authors think matters. Then I read the entry point, then whatever I am curious about. I never try to read it all.
Write one paragraph
At the end of the ride I write one paragraph: what I learned and what I would steal. Sixty of them now live in a file called stolen.md.
Written by
Iri Halvorsen, software engineer in Bergen
More / ls -t ./writing
