5 ms·

I could help rewrite in some other language.

goto11 7y ago
Can you also guarantee that the rewritten code does not change any undocumented behavior? I think that is the real challenge.
- lucidguppy 7y ago
  Maybe we'd be better off writing tests then...
- daveFNbuck 7y ago
  You can't guarantee that for updates to the existing code either.
scarface74 7y ago
We still haven’t learned. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...
- incompatible 7y ago
  Surely we can make an exception for COBOL.
- sgift 7y ago
  It was a bad rule back then, it is even worse now and it didn't even stand the test of time at Fog Creek (or Glitch, looks like they have renamed themselves), where they had to do it for FogBugz to finally leave Wasabi behind. I could go on about how Firefox ended up very well and not as the complete disaster that Joel predicted back then, but that's besides the point here, namely: There can be good reasons to rewrite something and "hey, we do not find remotely enough people to work on the current code base" is pretty far up on that list.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    So you don’t consider it a “complete disaster” that Netscape went from 80% marketshare to almost nothing overnight? Not to mention that currently their existence is almost entirely dependent on their competitor - Google.
    - Avamander 7y ago
      Do elaborate how its even remotely Rust's fault that FF has lost its marketshare.
      - scarface74 7y ago
        What does Rust have to do with anything? Joel’s article I referenced was about Netscape rewriting their browser during the browser wars over a decade ago instead of improving their existing browser to compete with IE.
        Avamander 7y ago
        > Not to mention that currently their existence is almost entirely dependent on their competitor - Google. You wrote this sentence, it talks about Firefox and implies something went wrong there?
        scarface74 7y ago
        Joel’s article was about Netscape. Firefox was the ultimate result of Netscape trying to rewrite Netscape Navigator.
      - goto11 7y ago
        The article is about the disastrous complete rewrite of the Netscape browser. More recently Mozilla have rewritten some parts of their browser in Rust, but this time they are doing it incrementally.
  - goto11 7y ago
- nickkell 7y ago
  Nobody's going to eat the government's lunch. There are still people around today who know COBOL, but how many years will that last?
  - scarface74 7y ago
    It’s not like COBOL is some indecipherable language that requires a Rosetta Stone to translate. If there is a market for it and someone is willing to pay enough, people will learn it. But didn’t IBM have a system to convert COBOL to Java that the federal government was using?

Can you also guarantee that the rewritten code does not change any undocumented behavior? I think that is the real challenge.

lucidguppy 7y ago
Maybe we'd be better off writing tests then...
daveFNbuck 7y ago
You can't guarantee that for updates to the existing code either.

scarface74 7y ago

We still haven’t learned. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...

incompatible 7y ago
Surely we can make an exception for COBOL.
sgift 7y ago
It was a bad rule back then, it is even worse now and it didn't even stand the test of time at Fog Creek (or Glitch, looks like they have renamed themselves), where they had to do it for FogBugz to finally leave Wasabi behind. I could go on about how Firefox ended up very well and not as the complete disaster that Joel predicted back then, but that's besides the point here, namely: There can be good reasons to rewrite something and "hey, we do not find remotely enough people to work on the current code base" is pretty far up on that list.
- scarface74 7y ago
  So you don’t consider it a “complete disaster” that Netscape went from 80% marketshare to almost nothing overnight? Not to mention that currently their existence is almost entirely dependent on their competitor - Google.
  - Avamander 7y ago
    Do elaborate how its even remotely Rust's fault that FF has lost its marketshare.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      What does Rust have to do with anything? Joel’s article I referenced was about Netscape rewriting their browser during the browser wars over a decade ago instead of improving their existing browser to compete with IE.
      - Avamander 7y ago
        > Not to mention that currently their existence is almost entirely dependent on their competitor - Google. You wrote this sentence, it talks about Firefox and implies something went wrong there?
        scarface74 7y ago
        Joel’s article was about Netscape. Firefox was the ultimate result of Netscape trying to rewrite Netscape Navigator.
    - goto11 7y ago
      The article is about the disastrous complete rewrite of the Netscape browser. More recently Mozilla have rewritten some parts of their browser in Rust, but this time they are doing it incrementally.
- goto11 7y ago
nickkell 7y ago
Nobody's going to eat the government's lunch. There are still people around today who know COBOL, but how many years will that last?
- scarface74 7y ago
  It’s not like COBOL is some indecipherable language that requires a Rosetta Stone to translate. If there is a market for it and someone is willing to pay enough, people will learn it. But didn’t IBM have a system to convert COBOL to Java that the federal government was using?