Reading code without knowing how to program: the minimum to review what the AI does

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

info Quick Definition

Reading code without knowing how to program means understanding the structure of what the AI generated: which parts make up the page, what each action does and what data it touches. It lets you review a change with judgment even if you never write a line.

What do you need to understand at minimum?

A web page has three layers, and each answers a different question:

Layer	Question it answers	How to recognize it
HTML	What is on the page?	Tags in angle brackets: `<h1>`, `<button>`, `<img>`
CSS	What does it look like?	Rules for color, size and spacing, for example `color: red;`
JavaScript	What happens when someone acts?	Functions, events such as `click` and values that change

HTML tags have an opening, content and a closing part, as in <p>text</p>. Some have no content or closing tag, such as <img>; MDN calls them empty elements. Attributes are settings on a tag, for example alt, which describes an image for a screen reader. Tags nest: <head> and <body> sit inside <html>, and <title> sits inside <head>. The browser shows what is inside <body> and the title in the tab (MDN, HTML basics).

Code on Fernando Ruiz

Reading code without knowing how to program: the minimum to review what the AI does

What do you need to understand at minimum?