Discussion

A good code review process benefits your team in many ways. It can:

• Increase code quality through beneficial peer pressure.

• Find bugs, non-portable code (if applicable), and potential scaling problems.

• Foster better design and implementation through cross-breeding of ideas.

• Bring newer teammates and beginners up to speed.

• Develop common values and a sense of community inside the team.

• Increase meritocracy, confidence, motivation, and professional pride.

Many shops neither reward quality code and quality teams nor invest time and money encouraging them. We hope we won't have to eat our words a couple of years from now, but we feel that the tide is slowly changing, due in part to an increased need for safe and secure software. Code reviews help foster exactly that, in addition to being an excellent (and free!) method of in-house training.

Even if your employer doesn't yet support a code reviewing process, do increase management awareness (hint: to start, show them this book) and do your best to make time and conduct reviews anyway. It is time well spent.

Make code reviews a routine part of your software development cycle. If you agree with your teammates on a reward system based on incentives (and perhaps disincentives), so much the better.

Without getting too formalistic, it's best to get code reviews in writinga simple e-mail can suffice. This makes it easier to track your own progress and avoid duplication.

When reviewing someone else's code, you might like to keep a checklist nearby for reference. We humbly suggest that one good list might be the table of contents of the book you are now reading. Enjoy!

In summary: We know we're preaching to the choir, but it had to be said. Your ego may hate a code review, but the little genius programmer inside of you loves it because it gets results and leads to better code and stronger applications.