I am a developer and I was recently promoted so I am doing significantly more code reviews now. Part of that includes doing code reviews on Github with people who are either not very competent or lack any programming skills at all.
For example, there is a person who seems to write code almost r...
Have you considered adding prettier and linting to a pre-commit hook? Most of these errors would not have made it to a code review, allowing you to focus on the bigger ones.
^ this. These things should not be addressed in a code review, the code should simply not pre-compile successfully in the first place with these simple errors. Heck, the simplest errors such as indent should automatically fix on save.
What Xizam said: automate this. Also, there's no problem with asking people to no longer submit PR's (and possibly block them if they continue to do so). Open source code is it's own curse in that regard. Also, what does your skin color have to do with competence?
Part of that includes doing code reviews on Github with people who are either not very competent or lack any programming skills at all. - I don't understand what that means. Are these people employees at your company? If so, how did they get hired to write code if they don't have programming skills?
Disagree @Eric - it's good context to show that this OP is not imagining the issues at hand. That their need to review these comments critically is real and not made up.
honestly I wouldn't attempt a code review if there are simple formatting issues and the like. assuming you have these things documented somewhere, ask them to clean it up first. it's a distraction from what a code review should be and a waste of your time
Giving nuanced feedback over a low bandwidth, one-way connection (i.e. in writing) is hard. Can you do some of the reviews face to face? That might help ensure that your comments are received in the spirit they are intended. You can also have a discussion about the issues if needed.
The white-male vs minority dynamic should probably be removed. I think it would make a great separate question though!
@LightnessRaceswithMonica But at the same time, the two top answers are bogged down on stupid semantic garbage, rather than focusing on the fact that these people clearly do not know how to program very well (not just style) and how to approach reviewing them.
@Mars I don't know which answers you're referring to ("top" changes over time), or what you mean by "stupid semantic garbage", but the highest-voted answers as of right now look fine to me. And, even if they didn't, that wouldn't be because the OP included an example in the question.
The "white-male vs minority dynamic" is (and always should be) irrelevant to the case. Work doesn't care about gender, skin colour or any of other stuff like that.
@LightnessRaceswithMonica The current top-voted answer doesn't even address how to address a programmer who doesn't understand certain programming concepts, nor the interpersonal issues that come with a lot of comments. Yes, in this case most of the comments are about style, but that's not completely the point
@Mars Then downvote it and write a competing answer that you feel is better (or upvote such an answer that already exists). You know how answers become "top-voted", right? By voting! So... vote.
@LightnessRaceswithMonica Thanks for teaching me how to use SE! Actually, I already voted according to what I think is a good answer and don't feel the need to crowd this question any more
@osiris exactly...unless you're using your genitals to write code (and then it becomes a HR/hygiene issue) it shouldn't matter what your gender is - its the same for everyone.
Discussion on question by jhcoates: H…
Discussion on question by jhcoates: H…