Code Review Best Practices
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Explain the purpose of code review beyond just "catching bugs"
- Identify what a reviewer should check in a real Apex change
- Recognize the difference between a blocking comment and a suggestion
Prerequisites: "SOLID Principles in Apex"
What code review is actually for
Catching bugs before they ship is one benefit of code review, but not the only one — it's also how a team spreads knowledge (a reviewer learns what changed and why), keeps a shared codebase consistent (naming, patterns, structure), and gives newer developers concrete, specific feedback on real code they wrote.
What to actually check
A useful review checklist for an Apex change:
- Correctness — does the logic actually do what the PR description claims?
- Bulkification (Module 7) — is there a SOQL query or DML statement inside a loop?
- Naming and clarity (this module's earlier lesson) — would a stranger understand this code?
- Tests — are there tests, and do they cover the real edge cases, not just the happy path?
- Scope — does this PR do exactly one thing, or has unrelated code snuck in?
Blocking comments vs suggestions
BLOCKING: "This SOQL query is inside a for loop — this will hit
governor limits with more than 100 records. Please move
it outside the loop before this can merge."
SUGGESTION: "Optional: `isEligible` might read slightly clearer as
`hasQualifyingScore` — up to you."
Not every comment carries the same weight. A blocking comment identifies something that must be fixed before merging (a real bug, a governor limit risk); a suggestion offers an optional improvement the author can take or leave. Being explicit about which is which respects the author's time and avoids unnecessary back-and-forth.
Exercise
As a comment, write one blocking review comment for this code (hint: think about governor limits from Module 7).
Show hint
A DML statement runs inside a for loop.
Code Review Best Practices Quiz
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Summary
Code review catches bugs, but its bigger value is spreading knowledge across a team and keeping a shared codebase consistent — reviewing well is its own skill.