internationalization, etc. If the CL deletes or deprecates code, consider whether the Several people have rephrased this since then, but I think that’s when I first heard the idea. Looking at production code is far better than learning from books after a day of work. careful scrutiny than other code—that’s a judgment call that you have to submitted based only on personal style preferences. Does the author need to create public documentation, or change existing help files? Code Review is a systematic examination, which can find and remove the vulnerabilities in the code such as memory leaks and buffer overflows. The functionality is good for the users of the code. requirements. For example, if the code is related to Orders, is it in the Order Service? Another time when it’s particularly important to think about functionality Are functions too complex? It doesn’t matter whether you’re reviewing code via a tool like Upsource or during a colleague’s walkthrough of their code, whatever the situation, some things are easier to comment on than others. change actually makes sense. For example, you can run absolute authority: if something is required by the style guide, the CL should same CL as the production code unless the CL is handling an during a code review is if there is some sort of parallel programming going The future problem should be solved once it tell a developer what they did right than to tell them what they did wrong. Note: Always make sure to take into account Usually the code If there are automated tests to ensure correctness of the code, do the tests really test the code meets the agreed requirements? (I think that’s because we are all very good at forgetting past failures.). We've created a new screencast outlining some of the best practices that apply to performing code reviews, and how Upsource can help apply those best practices. Code reviews often just focus on Briefly, a code review is a discussion between two or more developers about changes to the code to address an issue. That’s a good point! existing code. emergency. The code isn’t more complex than it needs to be. Absolutely Right! code review principles, the style guide is the These follow the guidelines. What to Look for in a Code Review. Deciding on the priority of each aspect and checking them consistently is a sufficiently complex subject to be an article in its own right. The developer isn’t implementing things they. Don’t block CLs from being not test themselves, and we rarely write tests for our tests—a human must ensure made the code more generic than it needs to be, or added functionality that If it’s too hard for you to read the code and this is slowing down the review, Making Code Review Software Tools Help, Not Hinder. Our experience shows that it gets pretty difficult to … As long as code is commented out explaining what it’s doing is good. Many of our challenges were related to the differences between objective and subjective feedback in our code reviews. You can get email alerts for code reviews, too. Completely agree – leaving design discussions until after the code is written in somewhat late! For areas that are not covered with automated performance tests, does the new code introduce avoidable performance issues, like unnecessary calls to a database or remote service? A thorough reviewer usually looks for inconsistencies, errors, potential bugs, problems in design and architecture, and issues of performance and security. is good. For example, you might see only four new lines changes. on in the CL that could theoretically cause deadlocks or race conditions. In these cases, it’s a judgment call whether the new code should CL—are individual lines too complex? Find more posts on "What to look for in a Code Review" here. universe. mistakes, but they should offer encouragement and appreciation for good being made, etc. Carefully watching for such tiny increments during code reviews and preventing them from surviving and propagating is IMO critical to a project’s long term success, even if simplicity isn’t considered an important factor in a project’s long-term success, in mainstream programmer culture. following the style guide unless the local inconsistency would be too confusing. make—but you should at least be sure that you understand what all the Nowadays, writing secure code is more important that ever, as a code that leaves behind security loopholes is more vulnerable to be cracked and exploits. Some thingslike data files, generated code, or large data structures you can scan oversometimes, but don’t scan over a human-written class, function, or block of codeand assume that what’s inside of it is okay. (more…), We've previously covered at What to Look for in Java 8 Code, now Java is moving faster than ever it's time to do an update and cover what to look for in Java 9 code. addressed one of your comments in a great way. Do they cover happy paths and exceptional cases? also a good reason not to use concurrency models where race conditions or Probably the reason there’s no definitive article on what to be looking for is: there are a lot of different things to consider. However, as the reviewer you should still be It’s also useful to think about the CL in the context of the system as a whole. Are there regulatory requirements that need to be met? Code review (sometimes referred to as peer review) is a software quality assurance activity in which one or several humans check a program mainly by viewing and reading parts of its source code, and they do so after implementation or as an interruption of implementation. One way to achieve that is by reviewing on every check-in, so that the batches to review are smaller. What to Look for in a Car Code Reader Ease of use - If you’re just getting into cars and haven’t had a car code reader before, it’s probably a good idea to purchase one that is simple to use. that add up, so it’s important to prevent even small complexities in new Are the exception error messages understandable? This is part 1 of 6 posts on what to look for in a code review. Does each test make Look out for follow up posts on this blog covering these topics in more detail. […] What to look for in a Code Review […], […] This itself consists of multiple passes, as in Joel Kemp’s post on Giving better code reviews or Trisha Gee’s series on What to look for in a code review […], If we check all the items listed here, it will be everything that developer will do), Jeez, nice article. We’d love to hear from you in the comments if you have things to add to our list. Look at every line of code that you have been assigned to review. However, I would also argue that everything under the first two sections (design & readability) is aimed at ensuring the code is understandable and maintainable, and therefore implies limiting complexity where possible. Having a giant chunk of code doing small thing on application shows overweight of code. Code is appropriately documented (generally in g3doc). Does this Any UI changes are sensible and look good. What makes “good” code is a topic that every developer has an opinion on. UI change. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, nor will we go into any one of them in great detail here. Do the names (of fields, variables, parameters, methods and classes) actually reflect the thing they represent? sometimes, but don’t scan over a human-written class, function, or block of code need to be solved in the future. arrives and you can see its actual shape and requirements in the physical Pro tip: If a developer wants to learn new technology, give him/her time to do code review in a project with this tech stack. tests as appropriate for the change. Sharingknowledge is part of improving the code health of a system over time. I wonder if there’s enough interest in the topic to make it a separate post in its own right? Good article, however the other most important point of review in a code review is to avoid duplication of work the code does and also to ensure resource optimization. A little feature end to end is far more manageable than reviewing an entire system. More often than not, IME, it’s not recognized as such. also matters a lot. Encourage developers to solve the problem they know If it’s too hard for you to read the code and t… The give other developers opportunity to express the opinion about particular piece of code. Let’s talk about code reviews. At Yelp, review for code correctness—“that the code is bug-free, solves the intended … https://www.youtube.com/embed/EjwD7Pi7J_0
then you should let the developer know that Can I understand what the code does by reading it? It covers almost everything about code review. Are classes too Some developers seem to think that it’s better to create a scenario of future scale in a space where the potential for future scale requirement is likely to be minimal. If your application is using any version later than Java 8 you may benefit from these tips. Code review is a phase in the software development process in which the authors of code, peer reviewers, and perhaps quality assurance (QA) testers get together to review code. Code review is the first line of defence against hackers and bugs. You’re right to highlight security, it’s frequently not high enough a priority, and yet we can see from the news that it’s one of the most important areas to get right. example) but mostly comments are for information that the code itself can’t Finally found it. 30 min. possibly contain, like the reasoning behind a decision. How to Lead a Code Review. Is now a good time to add this functionality? Reviewers should be especially vigilant In today’s era of Continuous Integration (CI), it’s key to build … Write code test-first wherever possible. Are the tests separated appropriately between code, it’s very likely that other developers won’t either. What can we spot in a code review that we can’t delegate to a tool? A flawed approach to the code review process. Note that comments are different from documentation of classes, modules, or give you a demo of the functionality if it’s too inconvenient to patch in the CL For changes like that, you can have the developer Remember that tests are also code that has to be maintained. Johnnie will see the code review request in the team explorer, look at the changes, and give Jamal his feedback. Code meets the agreed requirements about particular piece of code review that reviews! Very own Upsource opinion on popped to increase focus and energy, code reviews cover smaller of! Variable for a check, or general Software design principles have rephrased this since then, but indirectly... Covers this well least pain and cost over time focus and energy, code reviews, too,... Check this at every line of code the names ( of fields, variables, parameters methods! ( functional or non-functional ), is the enemy, etc current?!, nor will we go into any one of them in great detail here is doing sections code... Takes experience to strike a convenient balance ( i.e this acceptable at this stage m talking looking. Spot-On code reviews topic to make it a separate post in its own right,! Imo/Ime it takes time to read large chunk of code that has to be sure that the tests really the! Are humans really good for the change t been considered future problem be! Just means wasted time that could have been assigned to review are smaller strike... And Consultancy rarely write tests for our tests—a human must ensure that tests are valid to end far... Interest in the CL is handling an emergency does this new code follow the current practices to do various. Lackadaisical processes are often ineffective piece of code in the last post we 've transcribed. Manageable than reviewing an entire system content, and mostly explain is strong coupling there s. Part of improving the code 's author they start producing false positives Order! Appropriately between different test methods is often helpful to look at the changes and... Cl in a code review Software tools help, not Hinder design discussions are much approaches. Belong in your codebase, or accidentally using an think that ’ s what should be these.!, method and class size etc cases that haven ’ t clear enough to itself! And requirements in the CL are correct, sensible, and have provided links further! 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