The Winchester Mansion
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The Winchester Mansion[^] Our development team has unaffectionately chosen the name "The Winchester Project" for the mammoth we work on. We keep building, and building, and building… Every new team member feels like an ancient sailor trying to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis, only none has yet to be as fortunate as Odysseus. The project was started in 1996, by a team of student programmers. It has been continually upgraded, modified, added to, altered, ad infinitum. I realize that the # of files isn't necessarily a good indicator of project size, but there are currently over 920 project and related files (not counting the graphics and resource files or build and install directories). Between bug fixes, new features, and client requests...there is never time to get anything done. What is the size of the projects you guys are working on? and do you ever feel suicidal? - btw - I love this site. I'm new here, and haven't posted a lot...but I keep The Code Project up all day at work, and I'm continually looking around at what is going on. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
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The Winchester Mansion[^] Our development team has unaffectionately chosen the name "The Winchester Project" for the mammoth we work on. We keep building, and building, and building… Every new team member feels like an ancient sailor trying to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis, only none has yet to be as fortunate as Odysseus. The project was started in 1996, by a team of student programmers. It has been continually upgraded, modified, added to, altered, ad infinitum. I realize that the # of files isn't necessarily a good indicator of project size, but there are currently over 920 project and related files (not counting the graphics and resource files or build and install directories). Between bug fixes, new features, and client requests...there is never time to get anything done. What is the size of the projects you guys are working on? and do you ever feel suicidal? - btw - I love this site. I'm new here, and haven't posted a lot...but I keep The Code Project up all day at work, and I'm continually looking around at what is going on. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
Dare I ask what's the project? I'm assuming it's not an RPN calculator, but with student programmers involved, one never can make assumptions. ;P Marc Pensieve -- modified at 16:13 Friday 24th February, 2006
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The Winchester Mansion[^] Our development team has unaffectionately chosen the name "The Winchester Project" for the mammoth we work on. We keep building, and building, and building… Every new team member feels like an ancient sailor trying to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis, only none has yet to be as fortunate as Odysseus. The project was started in 1996, by a team of student programmers. It has been continually upgraded, modified, added to, altered, ad infinitum. I realize that the # of files isn't necessarily a good indicator of project size, but there are currently over 920 project and related files (not counting the graphics and resource files or build and install directories). Between bug fixes, new features, and client requests...there is never time to get anything done. What is the size of the projects you guys are working on? and do you ever feel suicidal? - btw - I love this site. I'm new here, and haven't posted a lot...but I keep The Code Project up all day at work, and I'm continually looking around at what is going on. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
EricDV wrote:
What is the size of the projects you guys are working on?
It varies from client to client.
EricDV wrote:
and do you ever feel suicidal?
Nope, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Smirnoff helps me through the bull :) PJC
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Dare I ask what's the project? I'm assuming it's not an RPN calculator, but with student programmers involved, one never can make assumptions. ;P Marc Pensieve -- modified at 16:13 Friday 24th February, 2006
Marc Clifton wrote:
Dare I ask what's the project?
--A database client tracking system.
Marc Clifton wrote:
one never can make assumptions.
--Based on the code, it is safe to assume that they were student programmers. But, I guess I shouldn't be too hard on them. I would usually do things differently myself, after I look back sometime later. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
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The Winchester Mansion[^] Our development team has unaffectionately chosen the name "The Winchester Project" for the mammoth we work on. We keep building, and building, and building… Every new team member feels like an ancient sailor trying to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis, only none has yet to be as fortunate as Odysseus. The project was started in 1996, by a team of student programmers. It has been continually upgraded, modified, added to, altered, ad infinitum. I realize that the # of files isn't necessarily a good indicator of project size, but there are currently over 920 project and related files (not counting the graphics and resource files or build and install directories). Between bug fixes, new features, and client requests...there is never time to get anything done. What is the size of the projects you guys are working on? and do you ever feel suicidal? - btw - I love this site. I'm new here, and haven't posted a lot...but I keep The Code Project up all day at work, and I'm continually looking around at what is going on. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
Personally, I'm working on a Gaming portal.. Freak huge (at least to me.. hehe) 73 pages of design docs and counting.. ---===/// The PogoWolf \\\===--- Blogs, Knowledge, Poems, Stories, Photos, Programming, Web Dev, and all sorts of cool sha-nits! GamersVue: Graphics (PSP)
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The Winchester Mansion[^] Our development team has unaffectionately chosen the name "The Winchester Project" for the mammoth we work on. We keep building, and building, and building… Every new team member feels like an ancient sailor trying to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis, only none has yet to be as fortunate as Odysseus. The project was started in 1996, by a team of student programmers. It has been continually upgraded, modified, added to, altered, ad infinitum. I realize that the # of files isn't necessarily a good indicator of project size, but there are currently over 920 project and related files (not counting the graphics and resource files or build and install directories). Between bug fixes, new features, and client requests...there is never time to get anything done. What is the size of the projects you guys are working on? and do you ever feel suicidal? - btw - I love this site. I'm new here, and haven't posted a lot...but I keep The Code Project up all day at work, and I'm continually looking around at what is going on. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
I work on a project with close to 800 projects, 60 solutions and millions of graphics, texts, etc. it's not as uncommon as you might think.
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I work on a project with close to 800 projects, 60 solutions and millions of graphics, texts, etc. it's not as uncommon as you might think.
I guess it isn't so much the size that is the problem...but the fact that so many developers, who wrote their code so differently, have contributed to the mess over the years. Together with the different methods for doing things, and lack of good documentation, the size makes for an unmanageable conglomeration. It is impossible to see all of what others have done, and so there tends to be redundancy, useless code, and even outright conflicts. But, you are probably correct in that it is more common than I think. Hence, the original question. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
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Marc Clifton wrote:
Dare I ask what's the project?
--A database client tracking system.
Marc Clifton wrote:
one never can make assumptions.
--Based on the code, it is safe to assume that they were student programmers. But, I guess I shouldn't be too hard on them. I would usually do things differently myself, after I look back sometime later. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
EricDV wrote:
I would usually do things differently myself, after I look back sometime later.
Amen to that! I cringe when I look at some of the code I've written (and posted as articles here on CP!!!) Marc Pensieve
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The Winchester Mansion[^] Our development team has unaffectionately chosen the name "The Winchester Project" for the mammoth we work on. We keep building, and building, and building… Every new team member feels like an ancient sailor trying to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis, only none has yet to be as fortunate as Odysseus. The project was started in 1996, by a team of student programmers. It has been continually upgraded, modified, added to, altered, ad infinitum. I realize that the # of files isn't necessarily a good indicator of project size, but there are currently over 920 project and related files (not counting the graphics and resource files or build and install directories). Between bug fixes, new features, and client requests...there is never time to get anything done. What is the size of the projects you guys are working on? and do you ever feel suicidal? - btw - I love this site. I'm new here, and haven't posted a lot...but I keep The Code Project up all day at work, and I'm continually looking around at what is going on. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
Just in our little corner of the world, a quick "search" shows: *.cpp;*.c - 1789 Files *.h;*.hpp - 1556 Files *.dsw;*.dsp - 365 Files *.rc;*.rc2 - 339 Files InTouch - A monolithic collection of programs started in a garage 1987. People that start writing code immediately are programmers (or hackers), people that ask questions first are Software Engineers - Graham Shanks
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Marc Clifton wrote:
Dare I ask what's the project?
--A database client tracking system.
Marc Clifton wrote:
one never can make assumptions.
--Based on the code, it is safe to assume that they were student programmers. But, I guess I shouldn't be too hard on them. I would usually do things differently myself, after I look back sometime later. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
Oops, I hit post instead of Quote Selected Text. So the rest:
EricDV wrote:
A database client tracking system.
Isn't it amazing how you can describe in four simple words something so friggin enormous? People just don't understand what we programmers do. Marc Pensieve
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Just in our little corner of the world, a quick "search" shows: *.cpp;*.c - 1789 Files *.h;*.hpp - 1556 Files *.dsw;*.dsp - 365 Files *.rc;*.rc2 - 339 Files InTouch - A monolithic collection of programs started in a garage 1987. People that start writing code immediately are programmers (or hackers), people that ask questions first are Software Engineers - Graham Shanks
wow ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
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The Winchester Mansion[^] Our development team has unaffectionately chosen the name "The Winchester Project" for the mammoth we work on. We keep building, and building, and building… Every new team member feels like an ancient sailor trying to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis, only none has yet to be as fortunate as Odysseus. The project was started in 1996, by a team of student programmers. It has been continually upgraded, modified, added to, altered, ad infinitum. I realize that the # of files isn't necessarily a good indicator of project size, but there are currently over 920 project and related files (not counting the graphics and resource files or build and install directories). Between bug fixes, new features, and client requests...there is never time to get anything done. What is the size of the projects you guys are working on? and do you ever feel suicidal? - btw - I love this site. I'm new here, and haven't posted a lot...but I keep The Code Project up all day at work, and I'm continually looking around at what is going on. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
Yeah, I once worked on a project like that. Luckily, I got a better job and my new boss actually writes code himself so he's very strict on documentation. We actually have a printed book of our database tables, schemas, and #DEFINE's that have descriptions for every column in every table (about 300 pages). That would be a daunting task for someone to do now, but his foresight was good I guess, so everything is updated as fields are added or changed, which is not a big task if you keep up with it. He's also very adamant about comments. Some Pictures[^] BugReporter[^] BlackDice
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I guess it isn't so much the size that is the problem...but the fact that so many developers, who wrote their code so differently, have contributed to the mess over the years. Together with the different methods for doing things, and lack of good documentation, the size makes for an unmanageable conglomeration. It is impossible to see all of what others have done, and so there tends to be redundancy, useless code, and even outright conflicts. But, you are probably correct in that it is more common than I think. Hence, the original question. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
The project I work on has seen many developers like yours but for some reason it's still in pretty good shape. One thing about the devs we have is that the company has had a policy of only hiring very senior programmers and getting rid of programmers that don't code into the methodology. having said that. its still freaking huge and takes forever to build if you gotta build the whole mothership. :)
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Oops, I hit post instead of Quote Selected Text. So the rest:
EricDV wrote:
A database client tracking system.
Isn't it amazing how you can describe in four simple words something so friggin enormous? People just don't understand what we programmers do. Marc Pensieve
Marc Clifton wrote:
People just don't understand what we programmers do.
I often feel like I don't understand what we do myself. I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word I am saying. - Oscar Wilde
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The project I work on has seen many developers like yours but for some reason it's still in pretty good shape. One thing about the devs we have is that the company has had a policy of only hiring very senior programmers and getting rid of programmers that don't code into the methodology. having said that. its still freaking huge and takes forever to build if you gotta build the whole mothership. :)
My hat is off to you. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
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Yeah, I once worked on a project like that. Luckily, I got a better job and my new boss actually writes code himself so he's very strict on documentation. We actually have a printed book of our database tables, schemas, and #DEFINE's that have descriptions for every column in every table (about 300 pages). That would be a daunting task for someone to do now, but his foresight was good I guess, so everything is updated as fields are added or changed, which is not a big task if you keep up with it. He's also very adamant about comments. Some Pictures[^] BugReporter[^] BlackDice
BlackDice wrote:
I got a better job
Are they hiring where you are now? ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
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The Winchester Mansion[^] Our development team has unaffectionately chosen the name "The Winchester Project" for the mammoth we work on. We keep building, and building, and building… Every new team member feels like an ancient sailor trying to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis, only none has yet to be as fortunate as Odysseus. The project was started in 1996, by a team of student programmers. It has been continually upgraded, modified, added to, altered, ad infinitum. I realize that the # of files isn't necessarily a good indicator of project size, but there are currently over 920 project and related files (not counting the graphics and resource files or build and install directories). Between bug fixes, new features, and client requests...there is never time to get anything done. What is the size of the projects you guys are working on? and do you ever feel suicidal? - btw - I love this site. I'm new here, and haven't posted a lot...but I keep The Code Project up all day at work, and I'm continually looking around at what is going on. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
I've lived in the San Jose area my whole life and yet I've never been to the Winchester Mystery House. So sad. You know the owner of that house was crazy, right? The story I've heard was that she became crazy due to lead poisoning from the old pipes. That's why she had such strange things constructed such as stairways that lead to dead ends, doors that open up to walls, etc. That and a combination of trying to confuse the ghosts that might come after her. WoooOOOooo! Interesting choice for a project name. Perhaps this is a project that you have to be crazy to take? :)
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I've lived in the San Jose area my whole life and yet I've never been to the Winchester Mystery House. So sad. You know the owner of that house was crazy, right? The story I've heard was that she became crazy due to lead poisoning from the old pipes. That's why she had such strange things constructed such as stairways that lead to dead ends, doors that open up to walls, etc. That and a combination of trying to confuse the ghosts that might come after her. WoooOOOooo! Interesting choice for a project name. Perhaps this is a project that you have to be crazy to take? :)
It is very fitting. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
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I've lived in the San Jose area my whole life and yet I've never been to the Winchester Mystery House. So sad. You know the owner of that house was crazy, right? The story I've heard was that she became crazy due to lead poisoning from the old pipes. That's why she had such strange things constructed such as stairways that lead to dead ends, doors that open up to walls, etc. That and a combination of trying to confuse the ghosts that might come after her. WoooOOOooo! Interesting choice for a project name. Perhaps this is a project that you have to be crazy to take? :)
I've been to the Mystery House several times over the course of my life. The story of it's construction goes like this (I believe): Sarah Winchester was heir to the famed Winchester Rifle company. She may have gone off her nut due to lead poisening, as you suggest, but the story is that she was very concerned about all the Native Americans killed by her rifles. She saw a fortune teller who told her that she would driven mad by the ghosts of those killed unless she built her house. In other words, as long as her place was under construction she would be safe from her demons. That's why you see stairways going nowhere and rooms with no entrance; the goal the constant construction, not the end result. It's a very weird place but it's also a great tour, especially the Garden Tour. If you live so close you really should do yourself a favor and pay a visit; you won't be disappointed! 'til next we type... HAVE FUN!! -- Jesse
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Yeah, I once worked on a project like that. Luckily, I got a better job and my new boss actually writes code himself so he's very strict on documentation. We actually have a printed book of our database tables, schemas, and #DEFINE's that have descriptions for every column in every table (about 300 pages). That would be a daunting task for someone to do now, but his foresight was good I guess, so everything is updated as fields are added or changed, which is not a big task if you keep up with it. He's also very adamant about comments. Some Pictures[^] BugReporter[^] BlackDice