Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective

Effective Software Development

by Diomidis Spinellis

If you are a programmer, you need this book.

You've got a day to add a new feature in a 34,000-line program: Where do you start? Page 333 How can you understand and simplify an inscrutable piece of code? Page 39 Where do you start when disentangling a complicated build process? Page 167 How do you comprehend code that appears to be doing five things in parallel? Page 132

You may read code because you have to--to fix it, inspect it, or improve it. You may read code the way an engineer examines a machine--to discover what makes it tick. Or you may read code because you are scavenging--looking for material to reuse.

Code-reading requires its own set of skills, and the ability to determine which technique you use when is crucial. In this indispensable book, Diomidis Spinellis uses more than 600 real-world examples to show you how to identify good (and bad) code: how to read it, what to look for, and how to use this knowledge to improve your own code.

Fact: If you make a habit of reading good code, you will write better code yourself.

Genres: Programming, Software, Technology, Nonfiction, Computer Science, Technical, Computers

819 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jean-Luc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing I didn't already know, but I wish I had read it 10 years ago.

[lehaleha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strange book. Author states that target audience are developers who need to quickly dive into big codebase, understand and fix a bug or add a feature. IMO those folks are expected to know basics, like simple data structures and basic language constructs. But for some reason most of the book is devoted to such simple matters. There are interesting few bits and pieces here and there, but overall I was disappointed by the book. I wouldn't recommend unless you are just starting in the field.

[Thomas Zeeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An underestimated part of a programmers life.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This unique and essential reference focuses on the reading and comprehension of existing software code. The concepts are supported by examples taken from real-world open source software projects. The focus upon reading code (rather than developing and implementing programs from scratch) provides for a vastly increased breadth of coverage.