The Winchester Mansion
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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
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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
The overall system I maintain consists of a little over 1,000,000 lines of code. (not including white space or comments or header files; just .cpp/.c). There are about 50-70 (not exactly sure) actively maintained and in-use projects and solutions and another 50-60 that are either rarely used or are no longer in use. A mixture or VC 6, VS.Net 2003, ASP, MFC (not much left), ATL, databases, com objects, etc. There are 25 physical databases spread across 4 database servers (all SQL 2000) totalling around 1300 tables. A quick search of .cpp;*.c in my projects directory (excluding 3rd party code) shows 4,276 .cpp and .h files. There are about 700 .asp files, 190 .aspx files. Yes, sometimes I feel suicidal. Amazingly, it all mostly just works. I am still creating new code on a weekly basis, but the maintenance efforts are starting to pile up as well.
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It is very fitting. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin
I've worked on legacy projects before, so I feel for you. One of them is still in 16 bit C, originally designed for Windows version 2. Over time, a lot of different developers with their own styles (including myself) has contributed to the code. And now it's on it's last leg. It's no where near 900 projects though. Ouch!
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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
I've been to the mansion once. I will say that you could easily get lost in the place. Here is a link to the story behind the Winchester Mystery House. http://www.prairieghosts.com/winchester.html[^] Kelly Herald Software Developer MPC
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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
Hi I work on building a marketplace for international trade that's almost completed (couple of weeks to go), and small in size compared to the project you work on, and no i'm not feeling suicidal because i have lot's of beer,food,books,music, games etc, and friends that are visiting me to empty my fridge and forcing me to work at night so i don't have time to think about the bad things in life. ;) With friendly regards, Eric Goedhart Skype: eric-goedhart Deep in the fundamental heart of mind and Universe there is a reason. -Slartibartfast
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The overall system I maintain consists of a little over 1,000,000 lines of code. (not including white space or comments or header files; just .cpp/.c). There are about 50-70 (not exactly sure) actively maintained and in-use projects and solutions and another 50-60 that are either rarely used or are no longer in use. A mixture or VC 6, VS.Net 2003, ASP, MFC (not much left), ATL, databases, com objects, etc. There are 25 physical databases spread across 4 database servers (all SQL 2000) totalling around 1300 tables. A quick search of .cpp;*.c in my projects directory (excluding 3rd party code) shows 4,276 .cpp and .h files. There are about 700 .asp files, 190 .aspx files. Yes, sometimes I feel suicidal. Amazingly, it all mostly just works. I am still creating new code on a weekly basis, but the maintenance efforts are starting to pile up as well.
You deserve a raise....and some kind of prize too. ---------- There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them. - Alexander Ledru-Rollin