This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz
by Vineet Sinha.
Original Post: Understanding What Others Are Upto!
Feed Title: Architexa - Working with Large Codebases
Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Architexa
Feed Description: Know your code
One of the challenges when working in teams is in keeping up with your fellow developers. Spending a lot of time reading others' code not only means less time getting your own work done but also the gradual deterioration of the code architecture. This is a problem that we have heard over and over again from developers and managers alike.
We have just released additional code and architectural review tools that will help developers easily understand new features that are being built. We are pleased to announce that we will be demoing this functionality at EclipseCon 2011 as part of the Hot New Products Showcase. With this release we not only have a full fledged code review client and server, but also are making it really easy for developers to document the main parts of what is being worked on. Our new features will help developers create and maintain more comprehensive architectural documentation, solving a number of common development issues.
It's important to make sure the quality of your project's code and documentation don't degrade over time. Reviewing the architecture as well as the code itself will ensure a better documented codebase, resulting in easier to understand code and decreased development overhead.
On the other hand, we all know that poorly documented code can increase overhead. Developers are often biased to think that their own code is well documented. Another set of eyes checking the documentation as well as the code can make sure confusing code is documented before it is committed.
Code duplication is one of the main sources of bugs and headaches for developers. Code review can help minimize duplication in new code but finding redundancies in legacy code may be difficult without quality architectural documentation.
Projects with limited or outdated architectural documentation are more susceptible to code erosion since developers may not be clear on what boundaries they are constrained by. Easy access to viewing and creating documentation helps developers be more aware of the effects their code has on other components.
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