Lessons from 6 software rewrite stories
-
A new take on the age-old question: Should you rewrite your application from scratch, or is that “the single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make”? Turns out there are more than two options for dealing with a mature codebase.
"Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)."
Yeah, sorry about posting an item from Medium. I've been trying to cut down
-
A new take on the age-old question: Should you rewrite your application from scratch, or is that “the single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make”? Turns out there are more than two options for dealing with a mature codebase.
"Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)."
Yeah, sorry about posting an item from Medium. I've been trying to cut down
I miss Roslyn on that list.
-
A new take on the age-old question: Should you rewrite your application from scratch, or is that “the single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make”? Turns out there are more than two options for dealing with a mature codebase.
"Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)."
Yeah, sorry about posting an item from Medium. I've been trying to cut down
-
A new take on the age-old question: Should you rewrite your application from scratch, or is that “the single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make”? Turns out there are more than two options for dealing with a mature codebase.
"Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)."
Yeah, sorry about posting an item from Medium. I've been trying to cut down
I'm working on software that is in it's 11th year of life. Over that time, well over two dozen programmers have contributed to the code base. And it looks like it (both age and multiple contributors). We deploy updates every four months (for the last 11 years), and it has never had a rewrite. The business rules change every few months, and the database wasn't really designed to accomodate that. As a result, we have stored procs that are THOUSANDS of lines long. Believe it or not, there is functionality to run a series of sql jobs that take almost nine hours to complete. From the website. If there was any software that needed a rewrite from scratch, this is the one. Frankly, I don't want to be responsible for it, but it has to be done, and with a modern software stack.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013