@EldritchConundrum I’ve sometimes seen people use the word “groveling” to describe this sort of process, though now that I think about it, I have no idea why…
It seems to be common in the Scheme community in the form “groveling through the syntax tree” or similar. Kind of weird usage!
Groveling... Oh, if it's through the syntax tree, at least it's already a bit structured. Groveling on the grass at least, or maybe even through the thickets...
In computing circles, it is common to use the verb grovel to essentially mean to rummage or to exhaustively search. This usage is listed in The Jargon File, though no explanation as to its origin is provided:
To examine minutely or in complete detail. “The compiler grovels over the entire sourc...
Hmm, the dictionaries mention two meanings: the "low status" one and the "low physical position" one. Maybe it's entirely the latter: having the face near enough the ground that one can examine every square centimeter exhaustively.
Maybe the humbleness kinda evokes the willingness to spend a lot of time reading everything...
I also see the meaning: to take pleasure in mean or base things. Maybe sometimes people enjoy going through every single matching line of code, when learning an unknown codebase