Code Reading Practice - Scanning for Code Smells

Test your code reading skills. For this exercise you will need a suitable list of code sample urls. For example look at the Tennis Refactoring Kata and the Office Cleaner Robot Refactoring Kata.

• Open each code sample url in a different browser tab (without looking at them)
• Get a notebook and write the names of any code smells you want to practice spotting as headings.
• Start your stopwatch.
• Look at each tab in turn and scroll through the code.
• Name any code smells you notice, (out loud if you like).
• Note down on your notebook which code sample had that smell.
• Stop the timer when you’ve looked at all the tabs.

Compare notes with others who have done the same exercise - did you find the smells in the same places? Was anyone faster and more accurate than most? Why do you think that is? Discuss how to get better at code reading.

Opening the code urls quickly and conveniently

There are browser plugins that will open a list of urls in different tabs, search for “Open Multiple URLs” in your browser’s extensions or add-ons marketplace. Or you could hold down ‘Alt’ (Windows/Linux) or ‘Cmd’ (Mac) while clicking on each url in turn.