Hello All,
I was just curious, what are the strategy you follow to understand a codebase. May be you have specific way to do it. I would like to know it. And I think it will help others also to improve.
Thanks in advance.
Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
1–10 of 11 posts
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#2I like function tracing -- pick an operation you're interested in, get a line printed with the name of each function that gets entered in order. Here's an example from the kernel:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.mmc/4248/focus=44...
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#3I pick an issue from the bug tracker and start working on it.
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#4This is the standard recommended book:
http://www.amazon.com/Working-Effectively-Legacy-Michael-Fea...
I write new tests in any area I'm going to be working in.
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#5I read it, skim every module if I can. E.g. I worked on a 500-file project (Broadcom had managed to take a 9-module driver and refactor it into 500 files!), reduced it to some classes and simplified headers. When I was done (took weeks) it was like 1% the size of the original pile. And I think I had not left anything important behind.
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#6grep
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#7grep
Do take a look at "ack-grep" if you've never done so before. Although it isn't significantly different it is so much nicer to see things be excluded from .git/ and similar.
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#8I wrote a program that parses all files in the codebase (I mainly work with Objective-C frameworks and libraries), and forms a graph using all the imported 'header files' in each file. Then when I need to fix a bug or implement an API, I input the base-file name and the program spits-out all the header dependancies of the base-file in a tree format. This way I am able to limit the area of the codebase I need to focus on to solve the issue at hand. I keep on focusing on these small areas of codebase one after another and get familiarized with it pretty quickly.
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#9"Rapid learning" and troubleshooting methods. The process for both of these is nearly identical, although some details differ. There are several books by Steve Litt that go over these and I found helped me troubleshoot problems faster than most of my co-workers, but the same principles helped me to understand a new code base much faster.
Available books by Steve Litt: http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/index.htm
A nice book package, I recommend these to every developer I meet: http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/recession_package_a...
His website isn't pretty, but the content is golden.
Re: Ask HN: How you get familiar with a codebase fast?
#10Start fixing defects. Nothing major, but it will certainly help you understand how and why things are ticking the way they are.