A career first for me
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Congratulations! I don't envy you your task, and that's quite a rabbit to pull out of your hat. Horror stories like these are how I convince my managers that code reviews are worth their weight in meetings.
Real programmers use butterflies
I've been working here for 30 years, and in all that time there has only been one code review ever held. At the end of that one, the developer on the 'hot seat' told his boss if he ever held another one, he'd quit. I wasn't present, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't handled very well. I don't think anyone went into it with the idea of "stabbing it with their steely knives" trying to kill the beast, but I doubt the ground rules were very detailed. Also, the guy chosen as the guinea pig was probably the worst choice to go first. Sharp guy and easy to work with, but not one to handle criticism well. That said, if there had ever been any kind of detailed code review of the POS I'm modifying, the author would have been terminated with extreme prejudice shortly thereafter.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I've been working here for 30 years, and in all that time there has only been one code review ever held. At the end of that one, the developer on the 'hot seat' told his boss if he ever held another one, he'd quit. I wasn't present, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't handled very well. I don't think anyone went into it with the idea of "stabbing it with their steely knives" trying to kill the beast, but I doubt the ground rules were very detailed. Also, the guy chosen as the guinea pig was probably the worst choice to go first. Sharp guy and easy to work with, but not one to handle criticism well. That said, if there had ever been any kind of detailed code review of the POS I'm modifying, the author would have been terminated with extreme prejudice shortly thereafter.
Software Zen:
delete this;That sounds like a disaster. Code reviews can be helpful but you do have to go in with the idea of constructive criticism, and in any case, it's easier after the first couple of times. :)
Real programmers use butterflies
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I have been working as a developer for a little over 40 years. In all that time, I have kept my comments clean. I am an avid user of curse words in my normal conversations, both verbal and online. It just always seemed unprofessional to use vulgar language in my code. Until today.
/***********************************************************
* USELESS SHIT LEFT OVER FROM THE ORIGINAL IMPLEMENTATION *
***********************************************************/I am now saddled with responsible for a piece of product code that is over 30 years old and still in active use. It's in C and started out on custom-built embedded hardware. Now it runs under Windows on an industrial PC. The original creator of this pus-oozing bedsore author of this stuff deliberately wrote it in a fashion that no one else could maintain it. He even cultivated a mythology about it, that it was dangerous for other people to even look at it, because it was so "performance-intensive". A few years ago he decided to retire rather than accept reassignment to another product. A succession of other people have taken it over, but no significant maintenance has been performed. We now have a hardware obsolescence issue that requires a code change. I've spent well over 100 hours over the last month going through the code, finding all references to the bits that need replaced. Based on my study, only 4 out of the over 20 functions in the module really do anything with the hardware that's going obsolete. The rest are basically stubs and no-ops, but their return values are used to direct logic elsewhere. I have had to trace every single reference to the functions and the global values involved to ensure that it was safe to change things. I had to leave all these other bits in place because removing them would have wreaked havoc in other logic I don't want to touch. After all this, it took me less than a day to write the new code.
Software Zen:
delete this;Look at it from a different angle: that guy was actually very smart. When ever you touch a little useless line, you are likely to break the codez. Thus he provides proof that the code really requires deep long thoughts and enormous diligence. Which can be provided by really smart asses people like him only.
Oh sanctissimi Wilhelmus, Theodorus, et Fredericus!
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I have been working as a developer for a little over 40 years. In all that time, I have kept my comments clean. I am an avid user of curse words in my normal conversations, both verbal and online. It just always seemed unprofessional to use vulgar language in my code. Until today.
/***********************************************************
* USELESS SHIT LEFT OVER FROM THE ORIGINAL IMPLEMENTATION *
***********************************************************/I am now saddled with responsible for a piece of product code that is over 30 years old and still in active use. It's in C and started out on custom-built embedded hardware. Now it runs under Windows on an industrial PC. The original creator of this pus-oozing bedsore author of this stuff deliberately wrote it in a fashion that no one else could maintain it. He even cultivated a mythology about it, that it was dangerous for other people to even look at it, because it was so "performance-intensive". A few years ago he decided to retire rather than accept reassignment to another product. A succession of other people have taken it over, but no significant maintenance has been performed. We now have a hardware obsolescence issue that requires a code change. I've spent well over 100 hours over the last month going through the code, finding all references to the bits that need replaced. Based on my study, only 4 out of the over 20 functions in the module really do anything with the hardware that's going obsolete. The rest are basically stubs and no-ops, but their return values are used to direct logic elsewhere. I have had to trace every single reference to the functions and the global values involved to ensure that it was safe to change things. I had to leave all these other bits in place because removing them would have wreaked havoc in other logic I don't want to touch. After all this, it took me less than a day to write the new code.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary Wheeler wrote:
He even cultivated a mythology about it, that it was dangerous for other people to even look at it,
Observing the code changes the code. Physics!
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
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Gary Wheeler wrote:
He even cultivated a mythology about it, that it was dangerous for other people to even look at it,
Observing the code changes the code. Physics!
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
He told his management he didn't want anyone else to see it since they wouldn't understand it and would screw it up if allowed.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I have been working as a developer for a little over 40 years. In all that time, I have kept my comments clean. I am an avid user of curse words in my normal conversations, both verbal and online. It just always seemed unprofessional to use vulgar language in my code. Until today.
/***********************************************************
* USELESS SHIT LEFT OVER FROM THE ORIGINAL IMPLEMENTATION *
***********************************************************/I am now saddled with responsible for a piece of product code that is over 30 years old and still in active use. It's in C and started out on custom-built embedded hardware. Now it runs under Windows on an industrial PC. The original creator of this pus-oozing bedsore author of this stuff deliberately wrote it in a fashion that no one else could maintain it. He even cultivated a mythology about it, that it was dangerous for other people to even look at it, because it was so "performance-intensive". A few years ago he decided to retire rather than accept reassignment to another product. A succession of other people have taken it over, but no significant maintenance has been performed. We now have a hardware obsolescence issue that requires a code change. I've spent well over 100 hours over the last month going through the code, finding all references to the bits that need replaced. Based on my study, only 4 out of the over 20 functions in the module really do anything with the hardware that's going obsolete. The rest are basically stubs and no-ops, but their return values are used to direct logic elsewhere. I have had to trace every single reference to the functions and the global values involved to ensure that it was safe to change things. I had to leave all these other bits in place because removing them would have wreaked havoc in other logic I don't want to touch. After all this, it took me less than a day to write the new code.
Software Zen:
delete this;I embed some curse words in my comments but I'm the only one that will ever read itr.
The less you need, the more you have. Why is there a "Highway to Hell" and only a "Stairway to Heaven"? A prediction of the expected traffic load? JaxCoder.com
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I have been working as a developer for a little over 40 years. In all that time, I have kept my comments clean. I am an avid user of curse words in my normal conversations, both verbal and online. It just always seemed unprofessional to use vulgar language in my code. Until today.
/***********************************************************
* USELESS SHIT LEFT OVER FROM THE ORIGINAL IMPLEMENTATION *
***********************************************************/I am now saddled with responsible for a piece of product code that is over 30 years old and still in active use. It's in C and started out on custom-built embedded hardware. Now it runs under Windows on an industrial PC. The original creator of this pus-oozing bedsore author of this stuff deliberately wrote it in a fashion that no one else could maintain it. He even cultivated a mythology about it, that it was dangerous for other people to even look at it, because it was so "performance-intensive". A few years ago he decided to retire rather than accept reassignment to another product. A succession of other people have taken it over, but no significant maintenance has been performed. We now have a hardware obsolescence issue that requires a code change. I've spent well over 100 hours over the last month going through the code, finding all references to the bits that need replaced. Based on my study, only 4 out of the over 20 functions in the module really do anything with the hardware that's going obsolete. The rest are basically stubs and no-ops, but their return values are used to direct logic elsewhere. I have had to trace every single reference to the functions and the global values involved to ensure that it was safe to change things. I had to leave all these other bits in place because removing them would have wreaked havoc in other logic I don't want to touch. After all this, it took me less than a day to write the new code.
Software Zen:
delete this;Would it be easier to deduce the function it performed and re-write from scratch. Or is that not possible given the circumstances?
"Momma looks down and she spit on the ground evry time my (his) name gets mentioned" - Paul Simon
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Would it be easier to deduce the function it performed and re-write from scratch. Or is that not possible given the circumstances?
"Momma looks down and she spit on the ground evry time my (his) name gets mentioned" - Paul Simon
We have sufficient information to recreate the product, but neither the manpower nor the time to do so.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
'twould be nice, except this guy passed away a couple of years ago :suss:.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
If I came across it, I hope my bladder's full...
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I have been working as a developer for a little over 40 years. In all that time, I have kept my comments clean. I am an avid user of curse words in my normal conversations, both verbal and online. It just always seemed unprofessional to use vulgar language in my code. Until today.
/***********************************************************
* USELESS SHIT LEFT OVER FROM THE ORIGINAL IMPLEMENTATION *
***********************************************************/I am now saddled with responsible for a piece of product code that is over 30 years old and still in active use. It's in C and started out on custom-built embedded hardware. Now it runs under Windows on an industrial PC. The original creator of this pus-oozing bedsore author of this stuff deliberately wrote it in a fashion that no one else could maintain it. He even cultivated a mythology about it, that it was dangerous for other people to even look at it, because it was so "performance-intensive". A few years ago he decided to retire rather than accept reassignment to another product. A succession of other people have taken it over, but no significant maintenance has been performed. We now have a hardware obsolescence issue that requires a code change. I've spent well over 100 hours over the last month going through the code, finding all references to the bits that need replaced. Based on my study, only 4 out of the over 20 functions in the module really do anything with the hardware that's going obsolete. The rest are basically stubs and no-ops, but their return values are used to direct logic elsewhere. I have had to trace every single reference to the functions and the global values involved to ensure that it was safe to change things. I had to leave all these other bits in place because removing them would have wreaked havoc in other logic I don't want to touch. After all this, it took me less than a day to write the new code.
Software Zen:
delete this;..with all your due respect!!.. 😇😇😇😇
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I have been working as a developer for a little over 40 years. In all that time, I have kept my comments clean. I am an avid user of curse words in my normal conversations, both verbal and online. It just always seemed unprofessional to use vulgar language in my code. Until today.
/***********************************************************
* USELESS SHIT LEFT OVER FROM THE ORIGINAL IMPLEMENTATION *
***********************************************************/I am now saddled with responsible for a piece of product code that is over 30 years old and still in active use. It's in C and started out on custom-built embedded hardware. Now it runs under Windows on an industrial PC. The original creator of this pus-oozing bedsore author of this stuff deliberately wrote it in a fashion that no one else could maintain it. He even cultivated a mythology about it, that it was dangerous for other people to even look at it, because it was so "performance-intensive". A few years ago he decided to retire rather than accept reassignment to another product. A succession of other people have taken it over, but no significant maintenance has been performed. We now have a hardware obsolescence issue that requires a code change. I've spent well over 100 hours over the last month going through the code, finding all references to the bits that need replaced. Based on my study, only 4 out of the over 20 functions in the module really do anything with the hardware that's going obsolete. The rest are basically stubs and no-ops, but their return values are used to direct logic elsewhere. I have had to trace every single reference to the functions and the global values involved to ensure that it was safe to change things. I had to leave all these other bits in place because removing them would have wreaked havoc in other logic I don't want to touch. After all this, it took me less than a day to write the new code.
Software Zen:
delete this;Been there done this rewrite. Only in my case it was my boss's code that I rewrote. He had four entry points and I whittled them down to two - add() and delete(). Had to track down all the instances where he used the four entry points and rework those as well. Final code not only was about two thirds the size it executed about a third faster (very disk intensive).
