--- title: Always Be Blaming | daily.dev description: A practical guide to understanding code history beyond simple `git blame`. The author describes a multi-dimensional approach to reading code: understanding a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/always-be-blaming-yi37onju1 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Always Be Blaming | daily.dev og:description: A practical guide to understanding code history beyond simple `git blame`. The author describes a multi-dimensional approach to reading code: understanding a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/always-be-blaming-yi37onju1 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/yi37OnjU1.png og:image:alt: Always Be Blaming og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- [matklad](https://daily.dev/sources/matklad) [Read post](https://api.daily.dev/r/yi37OnjU1) # [Always Be Blaming](https://api.daily.dev/r/yi37OnjU1 "Go to post") This title could be clearer and more informative.Try out Clickbait Shieldfor free (5 uses left this month). A practical guide to understanding code history beyond simple \`git blame\`. The author describes a multi-dimensional approach to reading code: understanding a snapshot (2D), tracing its evolution over time (3D), and grasping the original author's intent using 'theory of mind' (4D). Practical tips include using GitHub's web blame interface with keyboard shortcuts (y, b, ctrl+f, cmd-click) to get a 'virtual checkout' at any historical commit. The author also shares a local Emacs-based workflow using a dedicated git worktree, with custom shortcuts to blame a specific line, navigate to parent commits, undo blame steps, and copy GitHub links to commits. A key insight is that \`git blame\` answers the wrong question — it annotates files, but developers need temporal history of specific code snippets. [#git](/tags/git "Check all #git posts") May 18•6m read time•From [matklad.github.io](https://api.daily.dev/r/yi37OnjU1 "matklad.github.io") [](https://api.daily.dev/r/yi37OnjU1 "Go to post") 886 Impressions1 Repost Comment Bookmark Copy Share your thoughtsPost [](https://daily.dev/sources/matklad) [matklad](https://daily.dev/sources/matklad "https://daily.dev/sources/matklad") Matthias Noback's expertise in PHP and domain-driven design (DDD) offers readers insights into buil... Read more 33 Followers • 474 Upvotes #### Would you recommend this post? 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