I don’t know your circumstances, but it is usually OK to just ask. Especially if the original author is around. Don’t do it all the time and you’ll be OK. Even can come with positive image out of it, if you ask the right questions.
Other than that, I found that the current llms like ChatGPT (and perhaps Claude) are very good at explaining code, most of the time, for some languages ;)
Hey, thanks for your concern. I’m asking tons of questions, don’t worry. Unfortunately the last 3 keepers of this code are no longer around to ask, thus the staring at code.
I don’t know your circumstances, but it is usually OK to just ask. Especially if the original author is around. Don’t do it all the time and you’ll be OK. Even can come with positive image out of it, if you ask the right questions.
Other than that, I found that the current llms like ChatGPT (and perhaps Claude) are very good at explaining code, most of the time, for some languages ;)
Hey, thanks for your concern. I’m asking tons of questions, don’t worry. Unfortunately the last 3 keepers of this code are no longer around to ask, thus the staring at code.
Sounds like, at the very least, a yellow flag to me. Be aware that there may be other stuff broken in their processes other than legacy code. :)