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I like the boy scout principle of "Leave the campground cleaner than you found it." http://www.moserware.com/2008/10/boy-scout-check-ins.html http://www.moserw
by by 17y ago
I like the boy scout principle of "Leave the campground cleaner than you found it."
http://www.moserware.com/2008/10/boy-scout-check-ins.html http://www.moserware.com/2008/10/boy-scout-check-ins.html
With all the maintainers doing this at the code, database and design level you shouldn't need to do a rewrite.
The problem is with 'immovable things' that necessarily accrete layer upon layer of work-arounds. If maintenance work allows 'immovable things' to persist in the application, at whatever level, the whole structure gradually degrades and a costly rewrite is eventually forced.
- barrkel 17y agoIt's not nearly so simple in practice. If your codebase is old and large, and no one person knows it enough to change significant amounts of it, there are simply some fixes that you never have the time to risk.
- by 17y agoYes I agree if your 'immovable thing', for example the problem that would need a risky fix that nobody fully understands, can remain without much impact for the rest of the application's life. Sometimes I find I can move towards fixing something difficult in multiple steps as I apply successive features etc. I find that even just documenting the problem in the affected parts of the code can be a good first step. If something changes once it often changes again and I'll move it forward a bit more next time. My theory is that the movement is the important thing, not the arrival at some particular point.