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Comic Code Reviews

jona.ca

1–10 of 37 posts

Re: Comic Code Reviews

#2
I’ve been experimenting with a way to make code reviews more understandable - turning tricky pull requests into short comic strips.

The blog post shows an example generated from a real PR: summarizing the changes, anthropomorphizing the components, and making the flow visually obvious. It’s meant to help reviewers grasp intent quickly and make reviews a bit more fun.

Curious whether others have tried visual or narrative aids in their review process, and whether this could be practical for real teams.

Re: Comic Code Reviews

#3
You actually might be on to something... AI aside, it's often a good idea to include visuals in a PR such as diagrams.

But having something like a comic where it's both visual and communicative in a more conversational/narrative way could prove pretty effective. Also if you can throw some humour in there, it could potentially add even more comprehensibility, etc.

Thanks for sharing!

Re: Comic Code Reviews

#4

I’ve been experimenting with a way to make code reviews more understandable - turning tricky pull requests into short comic strips. The blog post shows an example generated from a real PR: summarizing the changes, anthropomorphizing the components, and making the flow visually obvious. It’s meant to help reviewers grasp intent quickly and make reviews a bit more fun. Curious whether others have tried visual or narrat…

This could be a fun way to educate the judge about why my opposing counsel's position is laughably wrong.

Sadly, the fun would end with a reprimand or sanctions order. Cf. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43866303 ("Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits").

Might work for bringing associate attorneys up to speed in a new case, or for teaching concepts to law students, though!

Re: Comic Code Reviews

#5
It seems to me the level this comic is at is such that anyone who needs an aid like this would not be capable of providing a meaningful review on the pull request.

If the goal is to encourage rubber-stamping by bystanders, it might help.

Re: Comic Code Reviews

#6

I’ve been experimenting with a way to make code reviews more understandable - turning tricky pull requests into short comic strips. The blog post shows an example generated from a real PR: summarizing the changes, anthropomorphizing the components, and making the flow visually obvious. It’s meant to help reviewers grasp intent quickly and make reviews a bit more fun. Curious whether others have tried visual or narrat…

I think it’s a fun idea.

Not sure if it would be used, though. Being on HN front page helps.

It would also have to contain a lot of content, and be indexed well.

Re: Comic Code Reviews

#8
post #5

It seems to me the level this comic is at is such that anyone who needs an aid like this would not be capable of providing a meaningful review on the pull request. If the goal is to encourage rubber-stamping by bystanders, it might help.

It's valuable to make a difficult task easier, even for those who could do the task without the help.

Re: Comic Code Reviews

#9
post #5

It seems to me the level this comic is at is such that anyone who needs an aid like this would not be capable of providing a meaningful review on the pull request. If the goal is to encourage rubber-stamping by bystanders, it might help.

It's valuable to make a difficult task easier, even for those who could do the task without the help.

I'd rather just have a high-level summary in English for that.

This seems to take dumbing-down beyond any sensible level.

Re: Comic Code Reviews

#10
Interesting idea but unfortunately the given example comic makes very little sense.

It was difficult to parse even as someone who's familiar with these concepts, and I think it will hurt more than help any newbies.

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