7 Steps to Learn New Codebases Efficiently!

How many times have you found yourself lost in a new large and unfamiliar codebase, and didn't know how to break into it? You are wondering if your way of navigating a new codebase and learning it is good enough? And if there are any better techniques you can use to understand this codebase and any legacy code efficiently? In this video, we'll go over some of the Best Practices we can apply when meeting an unfamiliar codebase, by walking through a detailed example in project Lyra. We'll go over getting familiar with the project, reading the documentation, defining a goal to learn, playing and tweaking values, diving into code, using the debugger, taking notes, and drawing a dependency graph to summarize our findings. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resources: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1027865/Figuring-Out-How-Things-Work https://understandlegacycode.com/getting-into-large-codebase/ https://understandlegacycode.com/blog/dive-into-an-unfamiliar-codebase-from-its-edges/ https://danicfilip.com/2017/how-to-read-and-navigate-new-codebase/ https://youtu.be/XTZVbmz7LpY?si=w44FovC7HruvN6mB https://youtu.be/jjMlguOrWHc https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/educator-livestream-navigating-large-codebases-instructors-guide-with-marc-olano-august-28/149871 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:25 Getting familiar with the project features 02:55 Defining a Small Specific Task 04:15 Reading the Docs 06:50 Diving into the Code from its Edges (Ammo Logic) 07:35 Finding a good entry point (Digging) 08:55 Using Debugging tools to understand code flow (Breaking) 11:35 Taking Notes and Breaks 12:15 Diving into the Code from its Edges (Cheat Code) 13:45 Testing our solution 14:15 Asking Questions 14:55 Drawing a Mental Map or a Dependency Graph 16:10 Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #codebase #gamedev #coding #programming #large codebase #game codebase #game development #unreal engine #ue5 #lyra sample #lyra sample game #game programming #lyra #game developer #project lyra