Google's Engineering Practices – How to Navigate a Code Review

As we learn from Google about how to navigate a code review, Michael learns to not give out compliments, Joe promises to sing if we get enough new reviews, and Allen introduces a new section to the show.

For those reading this via their podcast player, this episode's full show notes can be found at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode134.

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Navigating a CL in Review

A couple starting questions when reviewing a CL (changelist):

• Does the change make sense?
• Does the CL have a good description?

Take a broad view of the CL

• If the change doesn't make sense, you need to immediately respond with WHY it shouldn't be there.
  • Typically if you do this, you should probably also respond with what they should have done.
  • Be courteous.
  • Give a good reason why.
• If you notice that you're getting more than a single CL or two that doesn't belong, you should consider putting together a quick guide to let people know what should be a part of CL's in a particular area of code
  • This will save a lot of work and frustration.

Examine the main parts of the CL

• Look at the file with the most changes first as that will typically aid in figuring out the rest of the CL quicker.
  • The smaller changes are usually part of that bigger change.
• Ask the developer to point you in the right direction.
• Ask to have the CL split into multiple smaller CL's
• If you see a major problem with the CL, you need to send that feedback immediately, maybe even before you look at the rest of the CL.
  • Might be that the rest of the CL isn't even legit any longer if the major problem ends up being a show stopper.
• Why's it so important to review and send out feedback quickly?
  • Developers might be moving onto their next task that built off the CL in review. You want to reduce the amount of wasted effort.
  • Developers have deadlines they have to meet so if there's a major change that needs to happen, they need to find out about it as soon as possible.

Look at the rest of the CL in an appropriate sequence

• Looking at files in a meaningful order will help understanding the CL.
  • Reviewing the unit tests first will help with a general understanding of the CL.

Speed of Code Reviews

• Velocity of the team is more important than the individual.
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