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Does that matter? The code performs its duty and has for 25 years. If there are bugs in it they clearly haven't been important enough to be fixed. Technical deb
by Drdrdrq 6y ago
Does that matter? The code performs its duty and has for 25 years. If there are bugs in it they clearly haven't been important enough to be fixed. Technical debt? Maybe, but if noone is collecting the fees, who cares?
If the situation changes and the original code suddenly becomes a basis for further development then that's a different thing. But cleaning up the code without clear benefit is a waste of resources.
Hats off to original developers. Making code that serves its purpose for 25 years is quite an achievement.
- hanselot 6y agoAs we force people over a certain age into retirement, perhaps this should happen for code bases as well.
- jjnoakes 6y agoThe code gets bug fixes occasionally because things change (scaling past previous limits, changes in the environment, etc) and of course new features are required once in a while. So the debt usually can't be swept under any carpets. All code rots. If you are lucky to never need to fix it or change it, that's great, but that is (in my experience) extremely rare over time spans measured in decades. Sometimes a code base runs for decades not because it was particularly robust or well-written, but because it is too painful to replace it due to its complexity or the long ago loss of the knowledge needed to work on it.