Reading README Files
5 exercises on decoding real-world README structure: badges, requirements, usage examples, and contributing guidelines.
Key patterns for reading READMEs
- Badges encode project health — read them left-to-right: build, version, licence, coverage
- Requirements sections use semver notation:
>=,^,~ - Quick Start code blocks show the minimal happy path, not all options
- Contributing sections signal project activity and process, not legal obligations
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Look at the badges at the top of the README below.
What does the Coverage badge indicate?
# fastqueue
A high-throughput, zero-dependency job queue for Node.js.
Processes up to 50,000 jobs/sec on commodity hardware.
## Requirements
Node.js >= 18.0.0
## Installation
npm install fastqueue
## Usage
```js
const { Queue } = require('fastqueue');
const q = new Queue({ concurrency: 4 });
q.push(async () => doWork());
```
## Contributing
PRs welcome. Please run `npm test` before submitting.
## Licence
MITWhat does the Coverage badge indicate?
Coverage (code coverage) = the percentage of source lines/branches executed by the test suite.
The badge links to Codecov (a coverage reporting service). It tells readers how thoroughly the code is tested.
Common coverage metrics:
Related collocations: test coverage, coverage report, code coverage threshold, increase coverage, coverage badge.
The badge links to Codecov (a coverage reporting service). It tells readers how thoroughly the code is tested.
Common coverage metrics:
- Line coverage — what % of lines are executed at least once by tests
- Branch coverage — what % of conditional branches (if/else paths) are exercised
- Statement coverage — similar to line, but counts individual statements
- Function coverage — what % of functions are called at least once
Build Status (is CI passing?), npm version (latest published version), License (can I use this?), Coverage (how well-tested is it?).Related collocations: test coverage, coverage report, code coverage threshold, increase coverage, coverage badge.