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  • From: Calvin Powers <powers AT attglobal.net>
  • To: "InterNetWorkers" <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: supervising contract programmers?
  • Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 13:57:02 -0500


I've been a team lead on many programming projects over the past few years and I'm a big believer in the value of code reviews.

However, the main benefit of a code review comes from the fact that the programmers know _at_the_beginning_ of a project that their code is going to be reviewed by their peers. Makes them write neater code when they know it's going to be exposed to public scrutiny.

As for contract vs. hired programmers. I would not say that one group is better at programing than the other. But I would say that contract programmers often don't have the "big picture" as well in their heads and sometimes this affects the code they write.

The only other thing I would say is that I'd be against any of the "online" code review tools. I think it's better to print out all the code, geive everyone on the team copies, have them review it before hand, marking up their copies in read. Then have a meeting where everyone sits down at the same table and raises their concerns.

Doing it this way is a pain in the butt. It's slow and tedious. But it's well worth it in my opinion. Not only do you get better code, it's a great way to establish a set of coding standards for the team via mutual consensus without the programmerrs feeling like a coding style manual is being shoved down their throats. Also it's a good way to teach newbies about real world coding do's and dont's.

Also, I try to get the relevant manager to sit in on the code review. It's a great way for The Boss to get to see who the high performing vs low performing programmers are.

At 01:16 PM 12/29/2000 -0500, you wrote:
Hey,

I've been asked to supervise and code review a dozen

Java programmers on a project that's already in the
development cycle -- M3, I know. Idea is that my
Java expertise can help us deliver on time.

Any suggestions/experiences/obvious pitfalls?

Any opinions on contract programmers vs. hiring?

Thanks!



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