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Why do you ask for a permission? If I am working on a task and code got a bit too messy for my liking, I'd simply refactor, it's simply part of the task. Worki
by gedrap 12y ago
Why do you ask for a permission?
If I am working on a task and code got a bit too messy for my liking, I'd simply refactor, it's simply part of the task. Working != complete. If something goes wrong, it will be easy to revert given it is committed in a sane way (i.e. not loads of unrelated work under one commit).
It's a bit different if you want to do major refactoring (taking multiple days). But with small ones, just do as you go ;)
- bmj 12y agoYeah, I think the only time you need to ask permission is if the refactor would cause additional regression testing. Depending on the system, and unit test coverage, this may not even be a big deal, but sometimes, if you have a dedicated QC department, they may want to regress parts of the system even if they are covered by unit tests. Such regression could mean dates slip, etc, etc, and perhaps that's why someone might say "no."
- Xeoncross 12y agoYes, just like cleanup is part of construction.
- cjslep 12y agoAs a junior programmer in the contracting world, I ask the same as it is also a business question. You do not want to create so much extra work in the process of refactoring that you wind up losing money or running out of time before creating what the client asked for. Asking the super (who is also tech savvy) allows him to worry about balancing the business with the needs of his code base.
- eropple 12y agoI would submit that being a junior programmer in the contracting world is a nontrivial part of the problem. Contracting relies on a lot of really bad incentives that I personally suspect are largely antithetical to good practice.