Always Be Blaming
The article discusses techniques for improving code comprehension skills through a method called 4D reading. It emphasizes understanding the evolution of code over time and the importance of grasping the original author's perspective. Practical advice is provided on how to effectively trace code changes and utilize tools like GitHub for better insights.
- ▪The author advocates for a predictive approach to reading code, focusing on understanding the problem it solves.
- ▪Ideal code should be memoryless, while most real code is influenced by its previous iterations.
- ▪The article highlights the importance of understanding the author's mindset when writing code to improve comprehension.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Always Be Blaming May 18, 2026 A few tips on 4D-ing your code comprehension skills. I wrote on the importance of reading code before: Look Out For Bugs My default approach to reading is “predictive”: I don’t actually read the code line by line. Rather, I try to understand the problem that it wants to solve, then imagine my own solution, and read the “diff” between what I have in my mind and what I see in the editor. Non-empty “diff” signifies either a bug in my understanding, or an opportunity to improve the code. This is 2D reading, understanding a snapshot of code, frozen in time. This is usually enough to spot “this feels odd” anomalies, worthy of further investigation. Ideal code is memoryless — it precisely solves the problem at hand.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Github.
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