# On Code Review

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2021-11-02
- Length: 1h 30m
- Episode: 20
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/9a011c9c

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill, Adam Leventhal, and Kendall Morgan discuss the nuances of code review, contrasting modern digital tools with historical in-person practices at Sun Microsystems. They share specific war stories, including a DTrace integration bug caused by removing a single interrupt line and an n^3 algorithm in SCSI target code, to illustrate the importance of context and scale. The group debates the value of empathy, tooling choices like GitHub and Gerrit, and strategies for introducing code review cultures in organizations that resist them.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review#t=0) Introduction: In-person vs. Digital Code Review
- [3:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review#t=211) Kendall Morgan's Blog Post and Reviewer Selection
- [6:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review#t=387) Adam Leventhal's First Code Review at Sun
- [15:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review#t=913) Bryan Cantrill Reviewing Jeff Bonwick's Code
- [23:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review#t=1415) Tools: GitHub, Gerrit, and In-Person Preferences
- [32:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review#t=1947) The DTrace Bug and Useless Comments
- [54:59](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review#t=3299) The n^3 SCSI Algorithm and HPE Patch
- [1:06:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review#t=4013) Scaling Code Review and Management Fears

## Topics

- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Sun (company)
- DTrace (product)
- GitHub (tool)
- Gerrit (tool)
- Loom (tool)
- ZFS (product)
- HPE (company)
- Linux (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Code Reviews](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2024-07-26-code-reviews) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [488: Two Slices of Complimentary Bread](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-10-31-488-two-slices-of-complimentary-bread) (Embedded.fm)
- [183: Robots Having Nervous Breakdowns](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-01-11-183-robots-having-nervous-breakdowns) (Embedded.fm)
- [53: Being a Grownup Engineer (Repeat)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-09-28-53-being-a-grownup-engineer-repeat) (Embedded.fm)
- [Christmas Special](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-12-22-christmas-special) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-11-02-on-code-review. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.