How to Effectively Read and Learn from Others’ Code
You’re a software engineering student sitting in front of your computer, your own project opened on one screen, and someone else’s code on the other. Maybe it’s an open-source project, a code snippet from a YouTube video, or even a classmate’s work. You’re eager to improve your skills, but the code in front of you feels like a different language altogether. You wonder: How do I actually learn from this?
It’s easy to get overwhelmed, but reading and understanding other people’s code is one of the most valuable skills you can develop. In this article, I’ll walk you through a simple, practical process you can follow when reading and learning from others’ code.
Why Reading and Learning from Others’ Code is Essential?
👉 Enhances Your Skills: Exposes you to different coding techniques and best practices.
👉 Prepares for Collaboration: Familiarizes you with various coding styles and conventions, easing teamwork.
👉 Improves Project Building: Provides insights and strategies for creating more efficient and effective solutions in your own projects.
How to Decode?
1. Understand: Grasp the Bigger Picture
When you first start reading someone else’s code, don’t dive straight into the details. It’s easy to get bogged down by the specifics, but that’s not your goal at the beginning. Instead, try to get a general understanding of what the code is trying to achieve. Take a step back and browse through the code to get a sense of the structure and its purpose.
How to do it:
- Skim through the entire codebase before focusing on individual lines.
- Look for key parts like function names, comments, and class definitions to help understand the overall flow.
- Ask yourself: What problem is this code solving? What are the main components?
By getting this high-level understanding, you’ll find it much easier to dive into the specifics later.
2. Implement: Think of How You Can Apply It
Once you understand what the code does, think about how you can use it in your own projects. Learning from others doesn’t mean copying and pasting their work into your own code — it’s about adapting the ideas and solutions to your specific problems.
How to do it:
- Identify which parts of the code are reusable for your own projects.
- Can the logic or algorithms be applied to something you’re working on?
- How can this help you solve a similar problem?
For example, if you’re reading a piece of code that filters data from a database, think about how you could adapt that logic to filter data in your own project.
3. Refactor: Clean It Up
Now that you understand the code and know how to implement it, take a moment to evaluate its quality. Is the code written in a clean, efficient way, or does it feel “messy” or hard to follow? If it looks confusing or inefficient, this is your chance to refactor it. Refactoring means improving the structure and readability of the code without changing its functionality.
How to do it:
- Look for redundant code or overly complex logic and simplify it.
- Make sure variable names and function names are meaningful and clear.
- Remove unnecessary comments or replace them with self-explanatory code.
Refactoring can teach you a lot about writing clean code. By improving someone else’s work, you’ll also improve your own coding habits.
4. Take Notes: Document What You’ve Learned
Finally, don’t let your learning go to waste. After you’ve read, understood, and refactored the code, take notes on what you’ve learned. Writing down your thoughts will reinforce the concepts and give you a reference to look back on later.
How to do it:
- Write down key takeaways from the code.
- Note any interesting patterns, algorithms, or techniques you discovered.
- Reflect on how this will impact your future coding.
For example, you might note: “I learned how to use a specific data structure to optimize searches. I’ll use this in my next project where performance is critical.”
Conclusion
Reading and learning from others’ code is an essential skill for growth as a software engineer. By first understanding the big picture, identifying ways to apply the code, refactoring for clarity, and taking notes on your learnings, you can enhance your coding abilities and gain valuable insights for your own projects.
