3 ms·

Nobody Is Starting from Scratch

27 points by yamrzou 2y ago

chillaranand 2y ago
To start from scratch, we need to start with big bang!
noostale 2y ago
«If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe» - Carl Sagan
bruce511 2y ago
As applied to software development... Sooner or later every developer hits the situation where someone proposes "rewriting from scratch". Probably 1 in 10 such situations have merit. Probably 1 in 10 of the merit ones will be successful. Knowing if you are in the 10%, and the 1% is kinda the skill. For the 9% starting from scratch may have merit, but be unachievable for time or resource reasons. For the 90% it may sound like a good idea, but we'll keep selling (and developing) the old thing in the meantime so you never catch up. But it's a good gig for developers. You can write code for ages without ever having to ship. I know of one rewrite that started in 2006, and they'll be switching over "any day now". Of course a rewrite is possible. You only need to answer 2 questions; A) do you want it? B) can you afford it (in money and time?) Incidentally I (successfully) did a rewrite once (albeit that it was to change platform.) But I stipulated that it would not be backwards compatible. Not the data. Not the UI. I insisted we, um, well, start from scratch ....
- nsguy 2y ago
  https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-... Like anything in software, the answer is "it depends.". Also starting from "scratch" can fun. And software is almost never from scratch anyways. Compilers, libraries etc.
placebo 2y ago
Reminds me of a joke where mankind got so technologically advanced that they were able to create man from a piece of ground. They contacted God and told him they reached his level since they can create a man from a piece of ground. God asked them to repeat the process and when they started to collect some ground he stopped them saying "no, not with my ground..."
wiseowise 2y ago
I’m pretty sure CS50 starts from Scratch.
- pockybum522 2y ago
  I was tentatively sure I knew where this was going, but I had to look up the syllabus to be sure. Well done.

27 points by yamrzou 2y ago

chillaranand 2y ago

To start from scratch, we need to start with big bang!

noostale 2y ago

«If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe» - Carl Sagan

bruce511 2y ago

As applied to software development... Sooner or later every developer hits the situation where someone proposes "rewriting from scratch". Probably 1 in 10 such situations have merit. Probably 1 in 10 of the merit ones will be successful. Knowing if you are in the 10%, and the 1% is kinda the skill. For the 9% starting from scratch may have merit, but be unachievable for time or resource reasons. For the 90% it may sound like a good idea, but we'll keep selling (and developing) the old thing in the meantime so you never catch up. But it's a good gig for developers. You can write code for ages without ever having to ship. I know of one rewrite that started in 2006, and they'll be switching over "any day now". Of course a rewrite is possible. You only need to answer 2 questions; A) do you want it? B) can you afford it (in money and time?) Incidentally I (successfully) did a rewrite once (albeit that it was to change platform.) But I stipulated that it would not be backwards compatible. Not the data. Not the UI. I insisted we, um, well, start from scratch ....

nsguy 2y ago
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-... Like anything in software, the answer is "it depends.". Also starting from "scratch" can fun. And software is almost never from scratch anyways. Compilers, libraries etc.

placebo 2y ago

Reminds me of a joke where mankind got so technologically advanced that they were able to create man from a piece of ground. They contacted God and told him they reached his level since they can create a man from a piece of ground. God asked them to repeat the process and when they started to collect some ground he stopped them saying "no, not with my ground..."

wiseowise 2y ago

I’m pretty sure CS50 starts from Scratch.

pockybum522 2y ago
I was tentatively sure I knew where this was going, but I had to look up the syllabus to be sure. Well done.