Reading Code

I find that I spend a lot of time reading code when I am learning a new topic. I used to mostly browse, search, and read code from repositories through GitHub's web view. However, GitHub restricted searching code to logged-in accounts a while back, and has become increasingly punitive about rate limits. GitHub's web interface is now basically unusable for me.

git clone

However, this has gotten me into the habit of just calling git clone https://github.com/project/path when I want to dig deeper. It turns out, just having the code on my computer is way better!

• I don't need a consistent internet connection
• No rate limits or walled off sections
• Easier to go to a specific head commit
• Much easier to read commit history
• I can build and edit the code
• My editor can display it side-by-side with the code I am writing

I wonder how I even got into the habit of using the web interface so heavily in the first place.

Don't browse, git clone instead.