Go beyond the easy fix with code archaeology

When you go bugfixing, the quick, obvious change isn’t always the best one. And the code in front of you is never the whole story. To go beyond the easy fix, you have to know why certain decisions were made. You have to understand the history behind the code. And there are three great ways to learn what you need to know to confidently change code.

git blame

With the help of git blame, you can trace through every version of every line of code in a project, all the way back to when it was writt...