In my opinion, software "rot" is most likely where software has been passed on through a number of lead contributors over time. The original reasons for a parti

In my opinion, software "rot" is most likely where software has been passed on through a number of lead contributors over time. The original reasons for a particular set of design decisions are forgotten. Someone else comes along and doesn't quite understand a particular nuance, tries to add factionality, but it doesn't quite work, so writes a bit of code that ends up reimplementing an aspect of the original, so you have two lots of code doing the same thoing in different ways, perhaps with their own set of variables. Then someone else comes along and is faced with real confusion and before you know it you find yourself with a system which, if you update data one way, the changes are sometimes picked up by another part of the system, sometimes not and... its rotten.