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90% of the time the refactored code is objectively worse than the code it replaces. Gmail's UI was refactored into one of those shiny SPA apps, and it's absolut
by 0xy 6y ago
90% of the time the refactored code is objectively worse than the code it replaces. Gmail's UI was refactored into one of those shiny SPA apps, and it's absolutely awful now. Type in the search box before it's loaded and your key strokes get jumbled or keys get ignored because 50mb of JS garbage is thrashing your i9 CPU. Old Gmail was 100x faster and didn't make my laptop sound like a spaceship.
Refactoring is a retention program for engineers that provides almost no customer value.
- throwaway346434 6y agoCounterpoint: how often do you have a lump of legacy code that no one wants to touch, and changes in that area become too scary? Refactoring can address parts of that, by adding tests and identifying use cases.
- arvinsim 6y agoThe Gmail UI change is not a good example since it is a UI refactor. Engineers might not have any say on features that the product manager wants but impacts performance negatively.
- eurasiantiger 6y agoIt is not refactoring if it changes functionality.