Techniques or essentials skills required to read other persons code [closed]

Question

Currently I have started on very large Legacy Project and am in a situation which I always feared Reading and Understanding Other People's code, I have known that this is an essential skill which is required but haven't developed it as till date it was not required and now its like necessity to develop this skill rather than hobby and so I would like to know from SO Readers about:

1. How you have overcome the hurdle of reading other people's code ?
2. What techniques or skill have you developed to polish your art of reading and understanding other people code ?
3. Are there any books or articles which you have referred to or in general how did you developed the skill of reading and understanding other people's code ?

I would highly appreciate useful answers to this questions as now I can understand how one would feel while trying to understand my code.

Answer 1

Practice. Practice. Practice.

I overcame the hurdle by interacting with people on open-source projects. Discussing my contributions with others, and seeing their suggestions and ways of looking at things really opened my eyes.

I suggest you find a project that fits you, check out the source and contribute what you can (no matter how small to begin with). Over time the skill of reading code should just come naturally. Some projects even offer mentors specifically for helping out new contributors.

Answer 2

Michael Feathers' Working Effectively with Legacy Code is a great resource that contains a large number of techniques for working with older code.