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Are Code Reviews Worth It?

Posted by kdawson on from the bang-for-buck dept.

JamaicaBay writes "I'm a development manager, and the other day my boss and I got into an argument over whether it's worth doing code reviews. In my shop we've done both code reviews and design reviews. They are all programmer-led. What we've found is that code reviews take forever and tend to reveal less than good UI-level testing would. The payback on design reviews, meanwhile, is tremendous. Our code is intended for desktop, non-critical use, so I asked my boss to consider whether it was worth spending so much time on examining built code, given our experience not getting much out of it. I'm wondering whether the Slashdot crowd's experience has been similar."

12 of 345 comments (clear)

  1. Are they worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    No.

    Discussion over, everyone go home.

    1. Re:Are they worth it? by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

      In my experience, Pair programmers are more than twice as productive as a single developer when you factor in all the errors and bugs prevented by having two sets of eyes on the same problem.

      In my experience, unicorns are 2.7 times better than mermaids at debugging.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Re:Synergy, leverage, low hanging fruit, etc.. by Tx · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you truly want to make a decision on whether code reviews are worth it.. you need to know[...]

    So what you're saying is we have to have a review of the reviews...we're going to be here a while aren't we?

    --
    Oh no... it's the future.
  3. Line them up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Have each developer line up with his/her/its code printed out on a cue card board and stand in a line up. Execute the least likely to make it to the compiler, then you will "motivate" the rest to write better code..

  4. Re:If you're code review is taking forever... by pankkake · · Score: 2, Funny

    Grammar Nazi to the rescue: If your code review

    --
    Kill all hipsters.
  5. Re:Synergy, leverage, low hanging fruit, etc.. by MrMista_B · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, in that case, we should do a thorougly review of the reviews of the reviewed review reviews.

    BUFFER OVERRIDE

  6. a fucktonne? by grahamsz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Damn europeans and their metric system.

    How many shitloads are in a fucktonne?

    1. Re:a fucktonne? by jhd · · Score: 2, Funny

      How many shitloads are in a fucktonne?

      Wolfram Alpha knows ;-)

  7. Re:If you're code review is taking forever... by ciroknight · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nobody was talking to you, Skynet.

    --
    "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
  8. Re:they are worth it by Dragonslicer · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, no, no. If you are shipping bugs the problem is that the bugs are introduced in the first place.

    Can I come live in your fantasy world where programmers write perfect code every time?

  9. Re:Synergy, leverage, low hanging fruit, etc.. by hplus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait, so you are reviewing somebody else's review of the comment talking about reviewing reviews?

  10. Hire programmers who don't get hit by busses. by N3Roaster · · Score: 2, Funny

    I keep hearing about these programmers getting hit by busses. In fact, I think I hear about programmers being hit by busses more than members of any other profession. Now, the busses that I've seen tend to be rather large things that stop frequently, and usually aren't going very fast. The generally poor quality of code suddenly makes a lot more sense when you consider that it is being written by a class of people who are so fatally inattentive as to be struck by busses with such improbable frequency.

    --
    Remember RFC 873!