VS Code Learning Plan for Reading an Unfamiliar Codebase
Explore code efficiently with navigation features.
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[VERIFY] is an editorial flag, not a blank to fill. Wherever the prompt shows [VERIFY], check that item against a reliable source before you use it.
Help me learn a new codebase in VS Code. Language and size: [LANGUAGE_AND_SIZE]. What I need to do (fix a bug, add a feature, review): [GOAL]. Documentation available: [DOCUMENTATION]. The aim is understanding, so stop and ask a colleague after 30 minutes stuck, and change as little as possible in the first week. One-hour exploration as time-boxed steps, each naming the editor feature to use and the output to produce: 10 minutes on the README and tests, 10 finding the entry point, 20 following one request or feature through the code, 10 writing a summary, 10 on questions for a colleague. Editor features: go to definition, find all references, call hierarchy, outline view and breadcrumbs, search with filters and regular expressions, and timeline and blame views [VERIFY]. Run the tests to learn behaviour, and verify understanding by predicting what a test does before running it. Provide an exploration log template (Time, Question, What I did, What I found, Next) with three example entries tracing a function from a button to a database call, a summary template (purpose, main modules, data flow, risks, open questions), a boxes-and-arrows map with five words per box and unknowns marked, and a pair session with the code's author to validate the map, then a short summary for the team wiki.
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