For codes to work flawlessly and effectively, it needs to be reviewed for bugs and shortcomings, and fixed properly. The process of code reviewing in software development is similar to proofreading write-ups by editors. In software development, the programmers require the assistance of code reviewers in finding flaws in the code and removing bugs from it. Through the process of code reviews, bugs, small or big, can be fixed in the early stage itself and future complications that arise towards the end of the development phase can be prevented.
Before getting into the details of code reviews and its benefits, let’s understand what code review is.
What is code review?
Code review is an important part of the software engineering workflow. Code writing involves collective team effort, where a programmer works a piece of code, while code reviewer reviews the code for bugs. Code reviews usually are integrated with an existing process followed by the team. Through effective code reviews, critical errors like bugs in the code, security misconfigurations in the code and code vulnerabilities can be detected.
Although, the primary objective of code reviewing is to find bugs, there are several other benefits such as ensuring code’s long-term maintainability, code improvements, maintaining standards and practices, fixing shortcoming related to code structure and data leaks. In short, code reviews aren’t just for fixing bugs; there is more to it.
Code Review Benefits
Knowledge Share :
Code reviews facilitate knowledge share and allow Agile teams to be more efficient. As part of the process, comments on the code structure, architecture, and style are given by the code reviewer so everyone in the team learns new techniques, ideas and gets a fresh perspective on the procedures. Every team gains additional skills, and knowledge, allowing them to improve the code quality.
Assessments :
To make better coding decisions and estimations, the developer requires vast product knowledge. This is made possible through code reviews supporting multiple, informed inputs. Even complex and unknown issues can be discussed to make better estimations. Code reviews pave the way for reliable and strong assessments.
Become more Agile :
Regardless of the methodology a team follows, code reviews can be integrated into the system. However, code reviews are especially helpful for the agile teams as they are self-organized and work is shared among the team members. With code reviews, vast knowledge is shared across the code base and across the team.
Distribution of load :
With a good code review practice in place, the work of reviewing the quality of code is distributed. Developers can save the time taken to review the code and use it effectively to write better codes. The code reviewers check the code before any change is merged into the main database. It allows good coverage for code review across the team.
Saves time and cost :
Most of us think that code reviews take a lot of time and money, although it is not true in all the cases. With efficient use and integration of code reviews time and money can be saved. Utilizing the time of experienced development team for reviewing codes and finding bugs at the later stages can increase development costs. Therefore, investing in a good code review team is wise.
