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Methodology wise this approach is problematic, because as a refactorer he gets to stand on the design discoveries made by the original programmer.
by enqk 11y ago
Methodology wise this approach is problematic, because as a refactorer he gets to stand on the design discoveries made by the original programmer.
- dang 11y agoSpot on, but this is an insight whose time hasn't yet come. For one thing, it means that controlled comparison of programming approaches is even more impossible than we already know it to be, which is a bummer, which is a reason not to have the insight. What the OP did is still a worthwhile exercise. And although it seems to have been an accident, he made a good choice of program to study in this fashion. Because it is an emulator, what it needs to do, and therefore much of its design, was predetermined before the first program was written. That makes the comparison with the second program somewhat less vulnerable to your objection, though we have no way of measuring how much.
- enqk 11y agoGood insight, I actually was wondering if the choice of the object (Emulator) was a good or bad one. You're making a good case that it reduces the effect of initial design discovery since it's based on well known hardware.