The primary purpose of code review is to find code that will be hard to maintain
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The primary purpose of code review is to find code that will be hard to maintain.
Mark Dominus argues that code review's main goal is identifying maintainability issues, not bugs. He claims it is not in general possible to find bugs by examining code. The article is a short toot on Mathstodon, requiring JavaScript to view.
What commenters are saying
Commenters sharply disagree with Dominus's claim. Many report finding significant bugs during code review, calling the assertion false. A dominant counter-view is that code review transitions code ownership from individual to team, making maintainability a key factor. Some note that bug finding is a side effect, not the primary purpose. Others argue that effective review requires shared understanding of architecture and design planned before the PR.