Revisiting your old code can be an enlightening experience. Pete Goodliffe encourages us to look back at our old code to see how our technique has improved, how our programming skills have progressed, and what we can learn from it.

As programmers, we are not merely engineering drones; we are also artisans. The act of programming involves as much artistry as it does technicality. When we craft great software, we naturally use language idioms help to show the elegance, beauty, and artistry of a piece of code. But sometimes the desire for beautiful idiomatic code can trip us up.

Source code search engines can help you find chunks of reusable code. These search engines differ from generic text search engines by organizing the results to reflect the way code is organized—into functions, classes, packages, etc. These reviews of some popular engines can help you rev up reuse in your work.

Code review is one quality initiative you can't afford to skip. Don't have time for a full-blown, line-by-line review? No problem. Discover how even something as simple as a peer review can benefit your project and ultimately improve your code.