In your software development journey, writing code is just one step. An equally important one? Diving into code crafted by others. Book authors don’t become masters at writing overnight. Just like diving into a good book helps authors grow and find their voice, engineers can better themselves by looking through different bits of code. Here are a few angles to reading code.
Pick up New Techniques: When you get stuck, go into the rabbit hole. Peeking under the hood of libraries and frameworks reveals their sturdy mechanics. Diving into these repositories can teach you efficient methods and best practices. Otherwise, it can take years to learn the same methods.
Observe Paradigms and Patterns: Beyond theoretical knowledge, reading code allows you to witness programming paradigms and design patterns, like SOLID and the Visitor pattern, in practical applications. Seeing principles and patterns in real life scenarios offers theory matching the practice. When you start coding your own solutions, the pattern matching will become your thought process. You will naturally use principles and patterns.
Recognize What Good Looks Like: By studying well-written code, you set a reference point for your own work. Good code sets high standards that you might expect from yourself. It can push you to write better code.
Master Problem-Solving Techniques: Every piece of code tells a story of how a problem was approached and solved. Each codebase solves a different problem; therefore, they have different solving techniques. You can master these by digging deeper into the codebase.
Learn from Imperfections: Not all code is perfect. Yet, there’s a learning opportunity in hacks and shortcuts. Encountering less-than-ideal code helps you identify what to avoid in your own work. Mistakes are just stepping stones for everyone.
In consequence, while crafting your own code is essential, diving into others’ code is equally important. Just like reading different books shows you various writing styles and plots, exploring others’ code lets you see a range of solutions and learn from both the hits and misses. Hence, consider exploring a different codebase to find your style and improve your depth.