Does anyone have a favorite diff tool for reviewing lots of code? I’m thinking something along the lines like meld or vimdiff. I don’t really need a git client. I’m comfortable with the git CLI. I’m mainly interested in making code reviews a little easier to manage.
I’m reviewing a large code change right now and the web interface sucks. It’s slow. It doesn’t load all the files at once. Cross referencing files sucks.
I know, I know. “Code changes should be small.” I’ve already voiced that to my team, yet here we are. I’m trying to figure out a way to make this a little less miserable.
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Kdiff3
Beyond Compare, the pro version that does 3-way merges and stuff. I tried them all and its the best for a cheap price if you use it a lot.
Seconding beyond compare. It’s been the best by far and also supports network copy
My current workplace only allows whitelisted applications to run, and you must install them via the company portal. At my old workplace I used Linux with Kde Plasma, and Meld. New workplace has windows 11 only, and I was trying to find a replacement for Meld. When I started here, I noticed Beyond Compare is on the list. I’d heard of it before, but never used it. I installed it and it’s great! So happy that’s the one diffing tool they allow.
Not a diff, but a merge tool.
p4merge
I’m mainly interested in making code reviews a little easier to manage.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet, here: All future diffs become much easier to read if the team agrees to use a very strict lint tool.
I know, I know. “Code changes should be small.” I’ve already voiced that to my team, yet here we are.
I understand from another Lemmy thread that the tradition is to toss the offending team members’ laptop into the nearest large body of water.
the tradition is
LOL! Booking a meeting now! Tradition is tradition!
I’ve been using delta for a while, alongside lazygit, and enjoying it.
delta
https://github.com/dandavison/delta - link for the lazy.
I use https://difftastic.wilfred.me.uk/ which is well, fantastic. I have it set up as the default diff for Git and it is really nice.
Difftastic is fantastic!
I like kdiff3, vimdiff, and … intellij. Kdiff3 and intellij do “directories / file structures” too but I’m not sure the level you want it. Neither are cli though.
Gnu diff for the basics or if I want something automating diffs, beyond compare or winmerge if I’m stuck with windows for gui tools.
Difftastic is a structural diff tool that compares files based on their syntax.
Probably won’t solve all of your problems, but I like to at least change git’s default pager to
delta.alias diff='diff --width=$COLUMNS --suppress-common-lines --side-by-side --color=always'For comparing and selectively applying changes in many files, WinMerge is my tool of choice. But for resolving merge conflicts, I go with Tortise Git.
I like the merge and diff tool integrated in the various Jetbrain IDEs.
I like vimdiff, since it’s fair quick to collapse and expand code chunks if you know the keyboard shortcuts. Actually, since it’s vim, knowing the keyboard shortcuts is the entire game lol.
I usually have vimdiff open in a horizontal pane in tmux, then use the other horizontal pane to look at other code that the change references. Could I optimize and have everything in a single vim session? Sure, but at that point, I’d also want cscope set up to find references within vim, and I’m now trivial steps away from a full IDE in vim.
… which people do have, and more power to them. But alas, I don’t have the luxury of fastidious optimization of my workflow to that degree.
