Top-Down Code Review

During a top-down code review, the reviewer begins by looking at the high-level artifacts of the system, such as ticket description, architecture diagrams or documentation. Then, they progressively drill down into more detailed aspects of the code.

Most developers nowadays start with a top-down approach, by first reading the code review description (aka. the pull request summary), or the related ticket or user story, before they start to examine the code.

This article covers the following:

• When should I use a top-down code review approach?
• Top-down code review artifacts
  • PR description
  • Python code
• Step-by-step guide on how to review code top-down
  • 1. Start with high-level information
  • 2. Understand the overall code structure
  • 3. Understand the flow of the program:
  • 4. Consider high-level concepts
  • 5. Getting into the implementation details
  • 6. Optional: Completing the review by using other code review approaches
• Summary: Top-down code review

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