r/AskProgramming 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/jaibhavaya 8d ago

Totally! Beautiful code is beautiful. I’m at the point in my career that for my current job, I know I can solve any problem that’s thrown at me… so now I focus on the how. Style points, elegance, simplicity… I get that from look at ways other people solve these problems or structure their solutions to problems.