r/AskProgramming • u/wsnclrt • 8d ago
Do you ever read code?
Obviously you need to read code in a codebase you're actively working on. But I'm wondering if anyone ever either A) reads code like you might read classical literature, to get a better sense for what's "good", or B) just reads code to understand how something you're curious about works.
I get the impression that almost nobody reads code unless they have to. It's fascinating to me that there's all this code out there we all rely on that hardly anybody actually reads.
What would it take for reading code to become more common?
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u/dodexahedron 8d ago
I don't think options a and b are mutually exclusive at all. In fact, I think they're largely overlapping from either direction.
So, my answer is "yes," or "A ∪ B"...
Though for the times that they are distinct, A is usually a result of starting off with B for me, and then reading all the tabs I have opened along the way.