Re: On Complex Source Code Reading Strategy

On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 2:45 AM, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
> Peter Geoghegan <pg(at)bowt(dot)ie> writes:
>> 2. Start somewhere. I have no idea where that should be, but it has to
>> be some particular place that seems interesting to you.
>
> Don't forget to start with the available documentation, ie
> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/static/internals.html
> You should certainly read
> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/static/overview.html
> and depending on what your interests are, there are probably other
> chapters of Part VII that are worth your time.
>
> Also keep an eye out for README files in the part of the source
> tree you're browsing in.

There is at least one book with more than 500 pages on "Code Reading"
and I can see and sense that "Code Reading" competency is not a
trivial problem
nowadays(https://www.amazon.com/Code-Reading-Open-Source-Perspective/dp/0201799405).

Dear Tom Lane, I know that you are one of the most competent PG hacker
we ever have. You could write a book entitled: "The Art Of Code
Reading: The Case Of PostgreSQL" so that many beginners struggling to
find their space in PG would somehow shorten the amount of effort
required to be capable PG hackers. I feel and think that you are not
able to write a book on your art/style of writing and reading code
simply because you are so busy taking PG forward .

To reiterate: Code Reading has become increasingly important more than
ever and thus, the problem of code reading needs to be be addressed
comprehensively as it is being tried in
https://www.amazon.com/Code-Reading-Open-Source-Perspective/dp/0201799405).

Lastly, I strongly believe that Code is the ultimate truth and being
able to understand complex and high quality code effectively and
strategically is of paramount importance.

BTW, I have taken all of the PG hackers advice and am studying the
code base accordingly.

Regards,
Zeray