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---
name: when-opening-an-unfamiliar-file
description: Use when you open a file you have not read before in this session
---
# Skim before you read
Opening a file you have not seen before, spend a moment on its shape.
1. The top-of-file statement of purpose, if there is one.
2. The names defined at module level, in order.
3. The imports, which say what this file depends on and therefore what layer it
sits in.
Only then read the function you came for. Three seconds of shape saves the kind
of edit that is correct in isolation and wrong in context.
