Comments on: Code Reviews http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2009/07/29/code-reviews/ Technology and Geek Stuff by Eric Burke Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:55:26 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Pete Moore http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2009/07/29/code-reviews/comment-page-1/#comment-43601 Pete Moore Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:36:32 +0000 http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/?p=1266#comment-43601 Eric lists "have the review" as the most important step which is absolutely spot on. Just knowing that your peers are going to inspect your work has a much bigger impact on your standards than most of us are willing to accept. As a kind of an extension to the "learn from others" point. A big benefit that we've gained from continuous code review is a much more open and ongoing architectural dialogue. At a time when upfront design is out of vogue, code review threads are sometimes the only formal record of your choices (or rather the reasoning for your choices and compromises). It also provides the impetus to act on good ideas to change direction, which would otherwise get lost as random IM or hallway chats. Unfortunately most people still think of code review as some PITA formal thing rather than a natural part of the day to day that everyone thinks of as constructive and necessary. I'm obviously biased (I work on Crucible http://atlassian.com/crucible) but I couldn't agree more with Bob's point that tooling up is critical. As well as Crucible and Gerrit there is Reitveld, Reviewboard and on the commercial front CodeCollaborator. They are all quite different, find the one that suits your team and toolset just make sure that your tool serves you rather than you serving it. Eric lists “have the review” as the most important step which is absolutely spot on. Just knowing that your peers are going to inspect your work has a much bigger impact on your standards than most of us are willing to accept.

As a kind of an extension to the “learn from others” point. A big benefit that we’ve gained from continuous code review is a much more open and ongoing architectural dialogue. At a time when upfront design is out of vogue, code review threads are sometimes the only formal record of your choices (or rather the reasoning for your choices and compromises). It also provides the impetus to act on good ideas to change direction, which would otherwise get lost as random IM or hallway chats.

Unfortunately most people still think of code review as some PITA formal thing rather than a natural part of the day to day that everyone thinks of as constructive and necessary. I’m obviously biased (I work on Crucible http://atlassian.com/crucible) but I couldn’t agree more with Bob’s point that tooling up is critical. As well as Crucible and Gerrit there is Reitveld, Reviewboard and on the commercial front CodeCollaborator. They are all quite different, find the one that suits your team and toolset just make sure that your tool serves you rather than you serving it.

]]> By: Bob Lee http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2009/07/29/code-reviews/comment-page-1/#comment-43574 Bob Lee Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:46:49 +0000 http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/?p=1266#comment-43574 Good tools are a must here. You shouldn't need to hold a meeting or print something out to have a code review. It simply won't happen. You should be able to go back and forth several times on a review and review several changes per day. It should be a normal part of your flow. You need a tool that keeps track of which changes you need to review and that lets comment in line (i.e. click on a line of code and add a comment below it). We use Gerrit on Android: http://code.google.com/p/gerrit/ Google Code hosting also has good tool support. Atlassian's Crucible is another option. Good tools are a must here. You shouldn’t need to hold a meeting or print something out to have a code review. It simply won’t happen. You should be able to go back and forth several times on a review and review several changes per day. It should be a normal part of your flow. You need a tool that keeps track of which changes you need to review and that lets comment in line (i.e. click on a line of code and add a comment below it). We use Gerrit on Android: http://code.google.com/p/gerrit/ Google Code hosting also has good tool support. Atlassian’s Crucible is another option.

]]> By: Hamlet D'Arcy http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2009/07/29/code-reviews/comment-page-1/#comment-43528 Hamlet D'Arcy Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:33:03 +0000 http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/?p=1266#comment-43528 Wheee!!!! It's a meme: http://hamletdarcy.blogspot.com/2009/07/10-second-code-review.html Wheee!!!! It’s a meme: http://hamletdarcy.blogspot.com/2009/07/10-second-code-review.html

]]> By: Dan Lewis http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2009/07/29/code-reviews/comment-page-1/#comment-43519 Dan Lewis Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:13:59 +0000 http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/?p=1266#comment-43519 Angry pitchfork guy once told me: "Any code review can be hijacked and turned into a meeting exclusively about where to put the curly braces." Angry pitchfork guy once told me: “Any code review can be hijacked and turned into a meeting exclusively about where to put the curly braces.”

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