Code Review: A subtle but rewarding learning experience

Some people might not like the fact that their code is to be reviewed or to be the person who does it but I believe that there is a rewarding experience that results from this experience. I, for one, value the effort a person did to look how our overall product came out to be, some of which say that we didn’t commented enough for them to understand our code. Besides having a working system, our class’s third prime directive states that our code should have a good developer-level documentation that provides the inner workings and therefore should make it easy for them to understand and expand. This is particularly true in our assignment which taught me a valuable lesson since we have to create our user interface client upon the WattDepot system. The documentation on the WattDepot system helped us implement the commands that were assigned. Another comment I took into consideration was the design which didn’t really surprised me since we didn’t follow the design requirement. Our system grouped all the commands into one class instead of having each one of them in its own class. This is particularly an important point since it restricts our system’s extensibility. This design is now an important part because we are adding more commands into our client and this task would’ve made our jobs a lot easier. This I also think that the checklist that our review is based on also helped on how I will improve our client. All of our command methods are expressed to have “side effects” and therefore is a design problem that we have to address.

Overall I found this assignment worthwhile. Having another person not just examines but also gives suggestions on how to improve our system is a good way for me to actually be a good programmer. Not only did I have fun working with my partner but I also enjoyed reviewing other people’s system and hope that they find it helpful.