We sometimes spend time thinking about (and doing) code review. This document contains some guidance for this. I expect we’ll want to update this as we go.

Tips

Pick a small (maybe 100 lines of code) function or handful of functions to share with your reviewer. Have the reviewer “flag up those things that make the code difficult to read, debug, reuse and extend.” A good way to approach this as a reviewer is to ask (open) questions (“why have you done this like that?”, “is there a different way?”). The Oxford Code Review network guidelines for reviewers is probably a good place to look for more specific ideas. Try to reflect on what you are learning more generally beyond the few lines of code that is being reviewed.

Annother approach is to think about the larger scale. What is missing from the code or the whole package. The review checklist from JOSS could be a good place to start.