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Not really, long-living projects don't adapt their complete code base with gained experience, much like the Linux Kernel probably will never be rewritten in Rus
by tcfhgj 2y ago
Not really, long-living projects don't adapt their complete code base with gained experience, much like the Linux Kernel probably will never be rewritten in Rust, C++ projects never transformed to C++14+, etc.
- regularfry 2y agoThe interesting thing to look for here is the parts of the codebase that don't need to adapt with gained experience. That's the key. If people aren't changing it, they haven't needed to, and that's a useful signal. Conversely, looking for the parts of a codebase with the highest churn will tell you immediately what all the devs on that codebase will complain about, if you ask them. This has worked for me extremely well across a number of projects.
- yxhuvud 2y agoIt can also mean "We have not changed this because we don't dare to do that, or it is too much work and we just have to live with the bad decisions made 25 years ago". And that is the last code you want to copy.
- regularfry 2y agoIt is, but those cases tend to be obvious.
- namuol 2y agoIt’s interesting that we just assume a newer language produces “better code”