It occurs to me, that many programmers hate reading code – c'mon admit it. Just about everyone loves writing code – writing code is fun. Reading code, on the other hand, is hard work. Not only is it hard work, it is boring, cause let's face it, any code not written by you just sucks (oh we don't say it, but we're all thinking it). Even your own code begins to look increasingly sucky mere hours after you've finished writing it and the longer you leave it the suckier it seems. So, why should you waste hours looking at other people's crappy code when you can be spending this time writing awesome code of your own? Weren't we just over this; give it a couple of hours and then come back and see if your code still looks awesome. You're never going to become a master of your craft if you don't absorb the knowledge of the masters that came before you. One way to do that is to find a master in person and get them to teach you everything they know. Is this possible – certainly, is it probable – not so much, you'd have to be extremely lucky. You don't really need luck though, we're fortunate to be in a profession where the knowledge and skill of all the masters are right there for us to absorb, embedded in the code they have written. All you have to do is read it, sure it might take you a bit longer without someone sitting there explaining it to you, but it's eminently possible. To put it in perspective, try becoming a great carpenter just by looking at a bunch of well-constructed furniture.

I love reading code, I have always intuitively felt that you get a lot from it, yes it can be annoying and boring, but the payoff is well worth the effort. Consider this, if you wanted to become a great writer, would you focus exclusively on writing? You could try it, but you're not going to get far. It is an accepted fact that most great writers are also voracious readers. Before you can hope to write anything decent you need to read other great writers, absorb different styles, see what others have tried before you and feed your creative self. Your knowledge will slowly grow and eventually, your own writing will begin to exhibit some maturity, you will develop a 'feel' for it. Coding is no different, why would you expect to write anything decent if you've never read any great code? The answer is you shouldn't. Reading great code is just as important for a programmer as reading great books is for a writer (I can't take credit for this thought, it belongs to Peter Norvig and he is awesome, so take heed).

Even if all of this is unconvincing, there is one fact which is undeniable. Being good at reading code is important to your survival as a professional developer. Any non-trivial project these days will be a team effort and so there will always be large chunks of code you had no hand in which you have to work with, modify and extend. And so, code reading will likely be the most used and most useful skill you can have; better bite the bullet and get good at it – fast. Happy Coding

Send me your codes to read

If you can add comments to your code reading it will be more fun.

reading code is one thing, understanding what they do matters most

as boring and hellish as it is, it is compulsory when building non-trivial apps

3KINGZ18:
If you can add comments to your code reading it will be more fun.

Man, I hate this part

One thing I like most is refactoring my codes; breaking them into smaller, reusable functional components. Reading other’s code is a wise way of viewing programming from different perspectives . It has also taught me better ways to write codes.