Are there any formal approaches for familiarising oneself with a new or legacy codebase? [closed]

Posted by codecowboy on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by codecowboy
Published on 2012-11-21T21:12:54Z Indexed on 2012/11/22 5:12 UTC
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unit-testing

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refactoring

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legacy

Possible Duplicate:
How do you dive into large code bases?

As a contractor, I often encounter legacy codebases which might have little or no supporting documentation.

Are there any techniques or best practices? I work with PHP and web applications, though also face situations in which I have to edit code in an unfamiliar language. How can I leave a codebase in better shape, learn something along the way and impress the team I'm working with?

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