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Learning a Codebase ​

Coming Soon!

For this lesson, we will refer to a large codebase on github for an application I really like called Excalidraw. I've never looked the codebase for this application, so we will be learning it together.

Reading Code ​

Start with the big stuff, end with the little stuff.

  • languages and frameworks

  • System design

  • libraries/packages/models (code that may not be in the codebase). Get an idea of what is used to make the app.

    • python- equirements.txt
    • nodejs - package.json
    • rails - Gemfile
    • if you can't find this type of file, look at all imports (require)
    • .env

  • database

    • Could be a file or

  • Classes & Methods

    • Superclasses as well, module class or custom class?
    • This app uses functional programming. Very few classes

  • functions

    • packages/excalidraw/fonts/index.ts
      • register()

  • variables, conditions

  • config, .env

  • scripts

  • cron jobs

  • Write your own business rules from what you learn.

  • important folders

    • packages/escalidraw

Here are some questions we should answer:

Backend:

  • Libraries - Other services or features not explorable in the codebase (have to go to another codebase)
  • Where is the Database to get the schema
  • Variables - container to store data
  • Functions - What is happening to the data
  • Classes - Logical groups of related code
  • Conditions - When code is triggered
  • frontend/backend

Packages ​

husky - https://github.com/typicode/husky jsdom - https://github.com/jsdom/jsdom pepjs - https://www.npmjs.com/package/pepjshttps://www.npmjs.com/package/rewire vite react

For Web apps:

  • Schema - all of the data
  • Routes - api endpoints that call methods or functions
python
class Beneficiary():
    pass
class PushService():
    @classmethod
    def notify(beneficiary,message):
        pass

class Notifier:
    def __init__(self):
        self.transaction = Transaction()
        self.sender = sender(transaction)
        self.beneficiary = Beneficiary()
    PushService.notify(
        self.beneficiary,
        f"You received {self.transaction.amount()} from {self.sender.name}"
    )

The code above notifies a beneficiary of a transaction; of the amount that was transferred and who sent it.

Writing Code ​

Resources ​