Your Code as a Crime Scene, Second Edition, 2nd Edition

Inspect Negative Space in Code

The visual inspection you just did is fine for analyzing individual units. However, it’s clear that manually comparing code visualizations won’t scale up to a large hotspot.

These days, image comparison is a solved problem within computer science, even though it requires throwing a deep neural network at the challenge. A machine must use complex algorithms to achieve what your brain does with the flick of some neurons, consuming serious computing power. So, let’s stick to the textual representation of the code but simplify the process by shifting our perspective: let’s focus on the negative space.

Negative space is a key concept in visual art. The concept refers to the empty space around or even within an image, ...