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I'm in a team where I am the only Java developer. The rest of the team are VERY experienced in their own programming language, but their area of expertise is not object orientated.

I found the first time that I had a code review, it was a lengthy process that involved a lot of tangents about how Java works, or how OOP works etc. The second time, we got caught up on something and they had to bail as it was taking too long.

How can I make this process easier?
I desperately want my code reviewed as I myself am quite new to Java programming, and really to programming in general, but this is taking a long time (especially as, for instance I'm writing quite large chunks of code by refactoring old code that the last Java dev worked on).

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    From my point of view it doesn't make much sense to be code reviewed by someone who isn't familiar with the programming language and its concepts. Making code reviews just because the development process requires it and without the necessary requirements (i.e. reviewers with expertise in that language) is useless and a waste of time.
    – Simon
    Apr 26, 2013 at 10:38
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    I would disagree with Simon if we were just talking about the difference between C# and Java. Most of the same concepts apply and reading one, coming from the other, is not that difficult. But their not understanding OOP, that's a problem. I don't think there's an answer here.
    – pdr
    Apr 26, 2013 at 10:47
  • @pdr Agreed, C# and Java wouldn't make such a difference, but the fundamentals of OOP should be understood to have a useful code review.
    – Simon
    Apr 26, 2013 at 11:37
  • If you need a review by more experienced Java developers, you can submit your runnable code to codereview.stackexchange.com
    – Gilbert Le Blanc
    Apr 26, 2013 at 16:10
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    You don't bring 5,500 lines to your internal code review, now do you> I'm just saying that Code Review is available for you and others reading these comments if you want a more thorough review.
    – Gilbert Le Blanc
    Apr 26, 2013 at 22:20

1 Answer 1

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First of all, I'd start by introducing a lot of comments in your code where it makes sense to do so. So you wouldn't want to be commenting each line, but the concepts of what's happening. That way, it makes it easier for them to scan as they review the code.

Next, if as you say they don't have experience with object oriented programming, it may be an idea for you to do a presentation to the other group of programmers explaining OO concepts and how they map to functional languages (assuming that's what they are proficient in).

If the language they are coming from has a very different syntax and methodology (LISP to C++ for example(!)), then I think they're not really suited to be doing a code review for you.

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