---
title: Use the Force! Reading the Source Code for Padawans
osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/conferences/seagl2016/program/proposals/189
beginning: '2016-11-12T14:00:00.000-08:00'
end: '2016-11-12T15:00:00.000-08:00'
presenters:
- name: Andrew Kane
  affiliation: GSLUG
  osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/users/64
  gravatar_id: 24807d63fe52ec09bd6f96487ab83580
  biography: just trying to help
---

It's been a while since the days when a Linux user had to build everything by hand, but source-code reading arguably an even more valuable skill now than it was then. Also, it's fun. Sometimes.

This talk will introduce the basics of a generalized approach to understanding source code. Every tree is different (except for the ones which are the same) but programming languages follow certain patterns of usage, and familiarity with these will help you to understand what you are reading.

We'll also explore the use of some common tools which can help to explore large and woolly codebases, including the language's own linker, the amazing Doxygen tool, and the venerable grep -R.

Notes and more information are at https://koanhead.dreamwidth.org/2331.html
