legacylegacy-codecodebase

What's the best way to become familiar with a large codebase?


Joining an existing team with a large codebase already in place can be daunting. What's the best approach;

I'm working on what is currently an approx 20k line C++ app & library (Edit: small in the grand scheme of things!). In industry I imagine you'd get an introduction by an experienced programmer. However if this is not the case, what can you do to start adding value as quickly as possible?

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Summary of answers:

this post is a partial duplicate of the-best-way-to-familiarize-yourself-with-an-inherited-codebase


Solution

  • Start with some small task if possible, debug the code around your problem. Stepping through code in debug mode is the easiest way to learn how something works.