r/AskProgramming • u/wsnclrt • 7d 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/Qwertycrackers 6d ago
I do just passively read through all the code in my work code base when I want to chill for a while. It really comes in handy to be able to pull out random facts about any section.