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> I can't even imagine something that would still be useful after 10 years Ah the HN perception bubble. Good code last longer than that. Bad code gets replace
by ex_amazon_sde 9y ago
> I can't even imagine something that would still be useful after 10 years
Ah the HN perception bubble.
Good code last longer than that. Bad code gets replaced.
- humanrebar 9y agoGood code is replaceable. Bad code is hard to get rid of. Some code sticks around because it's great at what it does. Some code sticks around because it works if you don't touch it and is impossible to delete due to various kinds of dependencies.
- crdoconnor 9y agoAll code is replaceable. It's bad APIs that are hard to get rid of. Most POSIX APIs, for instance, are confusing, obtuse and unnecessarily imperative but still good enough in spite of being 40 odd years old. There's way too much code that implements or calls them to justify making significant changes as this point.
- ex_amazon_sde 9y agoWe are talking years and decades, where "replacing" is applied to entire applications, not chunks of code. Especially in SOA, it can be cheaper to replace a poorly written service than trying to rewrite all of it over time.
- collyw 9y agoIf it ain't broken, don't fix it.
- falsedan 9y ago> If it's broken but in familiar, known ways, with runbooks, and the cost of rewriting it is way higher than supporting it for 5 years & hopefully we'll move away from the business model which requires it, don't fix it.