Always Be Blaming

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.