The systematic examination of source code by team members other than the author to find defects, improve quality, and share knowledge. It typically occurs before code is merged into the main codebase.
Combines 'code' from Latin 'codex' (book, systematic collection) and 'review' from Latin 'revidere' (to see again). The practice formalized in the 1970s at IBM but became widespread with online tools and pull request workflows in the 2000s.
Code reviews catch more than just bugs—they're actually the most effective way to transfer knowledge across a team! Studies show that the learning value often exceeds the defect-finding value, making junior developers productive faster than any training program could.
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