7.13 Use the Text Editor as a Browser

One of the best tools for going through someone else's code is your text editor. Suppose you want to find out what the variable sc is used for. Use the search command to find the first place sc is used. Search again and find the second. Continue searching until you know what the variable does.

Suppose you find out that sc is used as a sequence counter. Since you're already in the editor, you can easily do a global search-and-replace to change the variable sc to sequence_counter. (Disaster warning: make sure sequence_counter is not already defined as a variable before you make the change. Also make sure you do a word replacement or you'll find you replaced sc in places you didn't intend.) Comment the declaration, and you're on your way to creating an understandable program.