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As many experienced commenters below have already noted, nearly any piece of substantial, revenue-generating, long-lived code will ascend to a place full of dra
by poulsbohemian 8y ago
As many experienced commenters below have already noted, nearly any piece of substantial, revenue-generating, long-lived code will ascend to a place full of dragons and mysticism. The more interesting debates revolve around:
1) How did it get that way, and what can we learn from that?
2) Is it inevitable that all software will end up like that?
3) How can an organization ever successfully sunset or move to a more maintainable system? Or should they even aspire to that?
- nathan_long 8y agohttps://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-cobol/banks-scramble-to-fix-old-systems-as-it-cowboys-ride-into-sunset-idUSKBN17C0D8 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-cobol/banks-scr... describe banks struggling to maintain ancient COBOL systems as the developers who understand them are dying off. I don't know exactly what they should have done and when, but it seems like rewrites are going to be necessary, and it sure would be nice to start rewriting a system while you still have someone who can explain what it does.
- poulsbohemian 8y agoIn the post-Y2K years, I heard a lot about how the next order of business was going to be to replace all those systems in health care, banking, etc, especially as a generation went into retirement. But, here it is 2018 and there are still articles Food for thought.
- Axsuul 8y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect
- spc476 8y agoCode that is easy to change is changed until it's no longer easy to change. Also: Well-designed components are easy to replace. Eventually, they will be replaced by ones that are not so easy to replace. -- Sustrik's Law Edit: Added Sustrick's Law