How to create a code review?

Code Reviews are one of the most interesting features of 4Geeks.com. They provide mentors with a quick tool to review code, and students with additional feedback to improve as developers. A Code Review, as the name suggests, is simply a comment regarding a portion of code. In this article, we will analyze the desirable characteristics that a Code Review should have to be effective for the student.

Let's start with the basics:

How to perform a Code Review on the 4Geeks.com platform?

Step 1: Select a program.

If you are a mentor, you have a dashboard where you can see the different programs or cohorts you are in. The first step to perform a Code Review is to enter one of these programs.

Step 2: Go to the Assignments section

You need to perform Code Reviews on a student's submission, so head to that section.

Step 3: Select the projects view

Step 4: Select a project

The projects available for Code Review are those that have been submitted, these will appear with a blue button and the text "Review" on it. Press that button.

Step 5: Start doing Code Reviews

If the project does not have at least 3 Code Reviews, it cannot be marked as Approved or Rejected. Press the "Start code review" button to begin reviewing.

Step 6: Select the Commitfile you want to review

A commitfile is a file modified by a student in a particular commit. By default, Rigobot analyzes the last three commits of a repository, and depending on the Committer of interest, extracts the necessary files in each commit. Commitfiles are a fundamental part of the Code Review, it's good to know the use of that file in the project you are reviewing so that the review makes more sense.

What does each item in the Commitfiles modal mean? File: It is the file modified by a student in a commit. Feedback status: It gives us information about whether the student has already reviewed and rated the Code Review or not. Reviews: The number of Code Reviews that each file has.

Select a Commitfile with the button: Start Review.

Step 7: Select a portion of code from the Commitfile

When you select a Commitfile, a modal will display with the code of that particular file, you can select the lines you want to comment on, then press the blue button to start the Code Review.

Suggestion: Review all the code first, so you can know exactly where the code has flaws or possible improvements before going and selecting any part that seems improvable, the files usually have a sense and this sense is important for giving quality reviews.

Step 8: Write the comment.

Commenting on the Code Review is perhaps the most important part. Later you will find a guide to points to consider when writing a quality Code Review. After writing a quality comment, press the Submit button and you will have completed your first Code Review.