Re^5: Legacy Code: "Dominoes = Bad"

But what I have... and what I make it my business to deal with... is “ten year old code.”

When a piece of software is “finished,” it doesn’t disappear. The business requirements that led up to it do not become frozen in stone. Why, “the web page” has already become “like, so 2009...”

In its day, the code might have been brilliant. It probably did reflect the technical requirements of its day, the technologies of its day, the best-practices choices of its day. But even though that was “ancient history” by present standards, the code is still in service.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^6: Legacy Code: "Dominoes = Bad" by JavaFan (Canon) on Apr 29, 2011 at 12:16 UTC
Why, “the web page” has already become “like, so 2009...” So, if you're writing a webpage now, how are you preparing it for the 2013 needs? I don't know what 2013 is going to bring me, nor does my employer claim to know. Will there be another financial crisis? How will the oil price behave? How many more (natural) disasters/wars will there be? Will Google and Facebook still be dominant, does their balance shift, or will be there be more parties? And if they are still there, what will they do? Will we still be competing with the same players, do we have world domination by then, or will we lose marketshare because someone else has an even better idea than we do? Which other markets will be important to us in 2 years? We don't know, so we don't know what's needed in 2013. Heck, maybe the page I'm working on now isn't even liked by our customers, so it will be gone by 2013 anyway. So, does it make sense to spend time now so there may be some time savings in 2013? Hell no.	[reply]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.

Re^6: Legacy Code: "Dominoes = Bad"
by JavaFan (Canon) on Apr 29, 2011 at 12:16 UTC

Why, “the web page” has already become “like, so 2009...”

I don't know what 2013 is going to bring me, nor does my employer claim to know. Will there be another financial crisis? How will the oil price behave? How many more (natural) disasters/wars will there be? Will Google and Facebook still be dominant, does their balance shift, or will be there be more parties? And if they are still there, what will they do? Will we still be competing with the same players, do we have world domination by then, or will we lose marketshare because someone else has an even better idea than we do? Which other markets will be important to us in 2 years? We don't know, so we don't know what's needed in 2013. Heck, maybe the page I'm working on now isn't even liked by our customers, so it will be gone by 2013 anyway. So, does it make sense to spend time now so there may be some time savings in 2013? Hell no.

[reply]