For my first real blog entry, I would like to talk about Code Review. I chose this topic because we are doing in-person activities based on clean code, in my Software Process Management class. When discussing how to make code cleaner and more readable, I looked more into the topic for more information. Code Review is a process performed by a person or more to examine and improve the code. I found this blog titled “How to Review Code – Tips and Best Practices” by ‘AK DevCraft’ and noticed that some of the points and practices are the same as we learned in class.
The blog highlights three important tips to be aware of when reviewing code, the first tip being Intention. This tip explained what the dos and don’ts are when reviewing code. When you review someone’s work, it’s pivotal to be positive and respectable. Giving constructive criticism, and explaining precisely what changes need to be made to improve the code. The blog also made sure to emphasize not to leave comments where you didn’t need one. Adding multiple comments to code is unnecessary and makes the code harder to read. The summary of the first tip was to be respectful to the ones who wrote the code and make it a collaboration when reviewing the code.
The second tip the author said was important was Standards. When reviewing code, making the code easy to read while making it easy to understand is what coding is all about. This can be done by sticking to a consistent format, which can be having meaningful whitespace, removing unnecessary gaps, or breaking larger functions into smaller ones. Understanding the standards of variables by creating clear and concise names for every variable. By knowing to avoid abbreviations and add values to variables such as “gallon” or “mL” to make the variable clear on what unit it is. A good practice we learned in class is to avoid duplication, duplication of code can lead to unnecessary code or more confusing messes like bugs or error messages.
The last tip the author highlighted was to review. When finishing the code review, keeping the big picture in mind can verify if your changes were necessary. GitHub is a platform we are using in class for our in-class discussions the platform has a review system to look over the source code and can help you double-check the code.
The blog shined a light on tips I believe are important when reviewing code, when my group did discussions on reviewing code, we used the same tips listed in this blog in our discussion. The blog gave me information on taking reviewing code to the next level, informing me of the GitHub feature to review the source code and always keeping a strict format in mind when reviewing code. I would recommend this blog to someone who is new to reviewing code or just wants a different approach when reviewing code with another person.
Source: https://dev.to/akdevcraft/how-to-review-code-2gam
From the blog Mike's Byte-sized by mclark141cbd9e67b5 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.