Don't Make Me Think!

I'm reading the great "common sense approach to Web Usability" - Don't Make Me Think book, by Steve Krug.

And I recall that I have the exact same message when reviewing code: Don't Make Me Think. If I have to think more than a second on a line of code it means that it's too complicated, you need to break it to two, maybe add a good comment above.

If I start asking questions like "why did you do this or that?" it's not good, it means that your code is not self explanatory, or that you had a good reason for doing something in a special, maybe unorthodox way, or just not the way I'd think of doing it, but you didn't explain it well enough in a comment.

When reviewing code I usually ask the developer, "OK open me the IDE, now let me try to understand by my own", "don't explain anything". "Shut up, stop explaining what you did, don't you understand I want some quite?!"

Then if I understand all by my own without a need to use my brain too much it's a good sign. The programmer gets his candy and we say goodbye. Otherwise the big refactoring, commenting, arranging work starts. Together with some oriental songs mumbling.