The literal meaning of “look under the hood” comes from the process of buying a used car and refers to the importance not merely going by first impressions and surface appearances (bright shiny wax job, smooth talking salesperson) but to examining in detail the more vital mechanical systems.
The phrase has universal application. Few things should be accepted at face value. When doing due diligence on a development site, my team does their best to “triangulate” crucial information i.e. confirm from three reliable sources. Or if appropriate, go directly to the “books of original entry”: don’t merely report that so and so says the code allows or doesn’t allow x or y, back it up by sending the actual code sections. All too often what is reported as fact is just an interpretation or an opinion, the solidness of which can vary greatly (not all experts are as expert as they think they are. Some are, some aren’t).
Dig deeper than most and you will go farther than most.
Closing Quotes:
“Every person who has mastered a profession is a skeptic concerning it.” – George Bernard Shaw
“I’m a big skeptic so I won’t just go off what an individual may tell me. I do the research. I get different literature on that one subject and just compare and contrast. I do my own selective studies.” – Kevin Gates
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” – Buddha
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier