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I disagree. Joel's "Don't rewrite from scratch" mantra seems like pretty solid risk-avoidance, given his first-hand experience with that path. The cost to buil
by gknoy 11y ago
I disagree. Joel's "Don't rewrite from scratch" mantra seems like pretty solid risk-avoidance, given his first-hand experience with that path.
The cost to build and maintain Wasabi was surely higher than rewriting as X, but the risk sounds substantially less, and effectively spreads the risk part of technical debt over future years.
Thistle came out TEN YEARS ago, and Wasabi isn't much younger. Choosing the path they did arguably contributed to them being able to survive this whole time - and, having read Joel's creed on rewrites, I'm not sure they'd have done better if they rewrote as Python or Javascript.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoThat was my take on it. A bad rewrite could have killed the company. Historically, rewrites do not have a good delivery record. A sideways sort-of-DIY ever-expanding transpiler-or-whatever kept the project alive and profitable. Sometimes an ugly hack is the right answer if it keeps the money coming in. Also, valuable PR.
- stumacd 11y agoI'm not sure the 'there's no such thing as bad publicity' works when you're aiming to come across as a voice of reason in the software community. I think the discussion could have been nipped in the bud if it was described similarly to your summation - a necessary business decision rather than good software practice.