Reading code
summary
Claim: developers spend about 58% of their time reading code, and deliberate practice improves comprehension. Evidence: a 1992 study replicated in The Programmer’s Brain shows groups that read code with explanations outperform those who only write and read. Practice: printed one‑page excerpts and exercises like first glance and identifying components. Tools: use Maven (mvn clean verify), run Spring PetClinic locally, generate diagrams and a dependency matrix (Cucumber core calls core 209 times), draw state tables, run tests in the debugger, inspect Git commits and use AI to explain them.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Reading code matters
- 3:56Code reading clubs
- 9:01Cognitive challenges
- 14:00Code reading dimensions
- 18:40Exploring new codebases
- 26:03Diagrams and dependency maps
- 30:16Structured exercises
- 35:44Debugging and refactoring
- 38:34Tools and IDE features
- 41:06Answering audience questions
