GOTO - The Brightest Minds in Tech Reading Code Effectively: An Overlooked Developer Skill • Marit van Dijk & Hannes Lowette
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Aug 12, 2025 Marit van Dijk, a Developer Advocate at JetBrains and Java Champion, joins Principal Consultant Hannes Lowette for a deep dive into the often-overlooked skill of reading code. They discuss research-backed strategies to enhance code comprehension, emphasizing the benefits of joining code reading clubs and using modern IDE tools. The duo highlights the importance of empathy in code reviews and writing clear commit messages, stressing that effective collaboration relies on understanding existing codebases. Their insights on integrating AI for improved coding efficiency are particularly intriguing.
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Most Time Is Spent Reading Code
- Developers spend up to 60% of their time understanding existing code.
- This makes code-reading skill more critical than writing for daily development work.
Reading With Annotations Beats Blind Coding
- Reading annotated code helps learners reproduce concepts better than writing alone.
- Providing context or explanations amplifies comprehension significantly.
Code Reading Club Boosts Perspective
- Marit joined a code reading club and practiced reading collaboratively.
- The club revealed how different people notice different details in the same code.
