GitHub

How to review code effectively: A GitHub staff engineer’s philosophy

Github

The staff engineer at GitHub discusses the importance of code review in ensuring good software and draws from their experience of reviewing over 7,000 pull requests. Considering it crucial for spotting issues that might have been overlooked, they argue that code review forms the start of a conversation about implementation of the product. They also provide examples on how poor and effective code reviews look like. The engineer also highlights the value of asking questions during code reviews and the significance of comments that agree with parts of the pull request. They further discuss the function of the 'Request Changes' option and explain when to use it. Additionally, they emphasize the importance of self-review before opening up for others' reviews and talk about addressing feedback on merged pull requests. They conclude by underlining the important role of code review in maintaining product quality, especially in the era of AI code generation.

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