Software Design X-Rays

How Do I Get Behavioral Data for My Code?

The techniques in this book build on the behavioral patterns of all the programmers who contribute to your codebase. However, instead of starting to collect such data we want to apply our analyses to existing codebases. Fortunately, we already have all the data we need in our version-control system.

Historically, we’ve used version control as a complicated backup system that—with good fortune and somewhat empathic peers—allows several programmers to collaborate on code. Now we’ll turn it inside out as we see how to read the story of our systems based on their historical records. The resulting information will give you insights that you cannot get from the code alone.

As you read through the book, you ...