Be it for beauty,or for reference, elegance, whatever... what is a piece of code that you find yourself returning to frequently
Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
1–10 of 64 posts
Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#2I can't think of any code which I read and reread. For that matter, there are few books that I reread frequently.
The closest is for a software library which I use only occasionally, where it takes a few non-intuitive lines to get things set up correctly. Someone developed an easier API for it, which is closer to the way I think about the problem. When I need to X, I consult that software to see how to implement it.
Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#3Usually you don't just go read source code for the heck of it. You read the source code either to contribute a feature or fix a bug. There's no point in reading the src otherwise because you won't find a good enough reason to try to fully understand it.
Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#4Usually you don't just go read source code for the heck of it. You read the source code either to contribute a feature or fix a bug. There's no point in reading the src otherwise because you won't find a good enough reason to try to fully understand it.
I beg to differ. For example, reading the Go source is extremely useful both to learn idiomatic Go, and for reference.
Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#5Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#6If I am returning to a piece of code frequently it's not because the code is good, but because the documentation is bad.
Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#7Usually you don't just go read source code for the heck of it. You read the source code either to contribute a feature or fix a bug. There's no point in reading the src otherwise because you won't find a good enough reason to try to fully understand it.
Without having a specific goal it's difficult to read code. "Learning how it works" is not precise enough. It's not useless you learn stuff but you have nothing obvious to show yourself as an achievement. Rewritring or "deconstructing" the code is helpful to understand it.
Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#8My goal is to complete a game in C++ using SDL2 this year, so i've been reading a ton of that on Github just to see how other people do it.
Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#9The code I happen to use at work. This might sound silly, sometime I read code just to understand one specific behavior, say one method and come back to it later because I need to know something else.
Re: Ask HN: What code do you frequently read?
#10Usually you don't just go read source code for the heck of it. You read the source code either to contribute a feature or fix a bug. There's no point in reading the src otherwise because you won't find a good enough reason to try to fully understand it.
I beg to differ. For example, reading the Go source is extremely useful both to learn idiomatic Go, and for reference.
I've been reading the Docker source lately and I couldn't agree more.