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Code crime scenes: how to reason?

 
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Hi Adam,

it is so refreshing to see such a title and topic being considered like what you are offering, so thank you for this.

my question is: in the metaphor of crime scenes, usually the forensics consider the evidence and sometimes analyse the criminal character and behavior in order to reason the actions "or at least how I think of it " and what I want to know ask is if the book explains how to reason behind and code implementation or the implementer intention of it.

my second question "if I may": there has been talks about "Bad smells in code" when trying to figure out reasons to refactor in different books, does yours provide such "hints" that this is a crime that needs investigation and rework if any?
 
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Thanks for your kind words! The book focuses on the second aspect that you mention: Your Code as a Crime Scene is about identifying code smells, design problems and prioritise those potential problems. There's a lot of material on this.

On the other hand, the book doesn't focus on the intention or reasoning that went into the code. But we do touch some parts of it as we discuss the fundamental attribution error (a cognitive bias): When you discover bad code written by me, it's because I'm a lousy programmer that cannot program my way out of a wet paper bag. When you on the other hand delivers a sub-optimal solution you know it's because you were close to a deadline, the project had to be saved and so on.

The fundamental attribution error is such a common bias where we overestimate personality factors to explain other's behavior. And that's not just about bad code; You frequently see the same bias at play in everyday life.
 
fahd helwani
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Thanks Adam, quite insightful
 
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