Seeking help for Video encoding

Hi Team
       I am a new developer in this field. To understand the whole 
source code what should i do?What are the contents which i have to go 
through before understanding the whole source code and make developments 
in the source code.I want to create a source code for video encoding,
for that i am looking forward for ur help.What are the things which i have 
to keep in mind while creating a source code for video encoding.I don't 
know how to begin.

-- 
Thanks & Regards,
Sujit Kumar
Software Engineer Trainee
Pivot Systems, Inc.
"Succeed Together"
www.pivotsys.com