How to learn a new codebase very quickly [Technique Tuesdays]

Use these steps to hit the ground running.

Sep 07, 2022

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How can you go through insanely large and complex codebases quickly to start making an impact,

You’re a reader of the best tech newsletter, and you’ve made some career gains. You have started work at a new organization/team. More pay and more interesting opportunities, but you now have to take some time to learn the code base. Eeewwwwwww

After being regulars here, y’all will need this skill as you zoom through top companies.

Even more problematic when they don’t have perfect documentation. In such cases, you’re going to be in a lot of pain, as you meander through files and repos trying to put things together. Fear not my friends, the Most Woke has the antidote to your problems. Read this super-duper awesome guide to become much better

Important Points

The biggest struggle in Understanding a new Code Base- It’s not a lack of comments. Not badly written code. No also not the language it’s written in. These are all true, but they are all examples of a much bigger problem. You struggle to understand a code-base/new project because you don’t understand the context behind the code base.
Okay… so what- To understand a code base quickly, understand the why. Why does it exist? What problem is it solving? Then move on to how it’s solving this problem. Not the technical details. Just what makes it useful. After this gain a high-level understanding of each of the big components of the system and how they contribute to the desired end goals. Not the specific details, just what the purpose of their existence is.
After this- Now you’ve got the background steps sorted out. It’s time to get to step 1. Pick the component you think you would have the best chance of understanding. For me this would be the AI/Processing systems. Depending on your skills, this will be different. Then go very specific. Pick a very small piece of this component (I like to go with the ending functions of a pipeline) and understand that piece well. Once you know what that piece is and what it does, start expanding your knowledge from there.
What if you get stuck- If you get stuck on a particular component/step, skip it. Move on. Treat it like a black box (of course the Machine Learning guy says this). Just understand what it takes as input, and what it generates as output. Skip everything else. No point in beating your head against the wall. Given enough time, you’ll learn what you have to.

To those of you familiar with my Math is Language post, you will notice that this approach is quite similar to that. That is because coding and Math are very similar. Both require an ability to express abstract situations in ‘concrete’ ways that people can interact with. This is why Math Majors have an easier time transitioning into Coding. Math and coding require the same kind of thinking. If you’re looking to develop your math skills, check out my post on how to learn Math below.

Technology Made Simple

Math is a Language. This is how you should learn it. [Math Mondays]

Hello hello my lovely reader, One of the hardest things about building a strong career in any technical domain is that you will inevitably come across the need for Math. No matter how much you try to run from it, Math will eventually hunt you down. Especially when you start working in one of the big firms that operate on massive scales, and have a lot o…

3 years ago · 2 likes · Devansh

To finish up, I’m sharing a 1-minute video on a similar topic created by Rahul Pandey. He puts out great information on his channel and other platforms. I even recommend his newsletter on Substack- Tech Career Growth - Alex + Rahul. On this topic, I like his techniques of using logs and breaking code for learning new codebases or programming languages quickly. I don’t agree that you try to get coding ASAP. I’m a believer in taking a step back, looking at the bigger picture, and then picking tiny pieces from there. Working with the end in mind makes it easier to identify important value adds. That said, he’s a fantastic creator and I’m linking his video so you can take a look and make up your own mind. See which approach (or a hybrid) works best for you.

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