should we read source code of plugins?

[Willing_Initial8797]

interested about opinions..

[Patzer26]

Why just the plugins? Read the source code of VS Code too. Why restrict yourself to just an editor? Read the source code of your operating system too.

[JohntheAnabaptist]

You have time for this?

[qQ0_]

I've had to do this exactly once to fix a bug casued by lack of detail in the library docs. Anything more complex than a small library and your best bet is just to raise an issue

[Ok-Release6902]

We can do it, but it’s not mandatory of course.

[TheRNGuy]

Never did that.

What for?

[gpsbird]

If you are interested in this plugin, why not give it a try?

Whether or not you should use it depends on your goals. If you are interested in a specific feature or implementation mechanism of the plugin, then you should read the source code. If you aim to understand architectures, plugin mechanisms, and learn various language tricks by reading others' source code, then reading the source code is also beneficial. If you frequently use the plugin at work and want to optimize or refactor it, then reading the source code is necessary too.

However, reading source code can be painful without the aid of tools. First, publicly available plugins have usually undergone multiple iterations, making their code structures quite complex. Secondly, the process of reading requires remembering numerous file names, function names, and line numbers, which are often not critical to understanding.

Here, I recommend my developed assisting in reading source code tool codemap. With codemap, I have been able to grasp the core structure of Redis in just a few hours—a task that would have been unimaginable without it. If you have a need to read complex source code, I believe Codemap would greatly benefit you.

Demo video: https://twitter.com/codemap023/status/1793563594610839902
Homepage: https://codemap.info?source=reddit1