Re:What does code readability mean?
by tboyd47 on Monday January 08, 2018 @10:48AM
(#16097505)
I've seen smart people fall into the following trap:
1. Previous developers did X and X is bad, therefore, their code needs to be rewritten without doing X.
2. Oh crap - turns out, the new code has all these requirements to match the old code's functionality in ways we didn't expect (letters A-W).
3. Okay, so we're doing Y and Z in the rewrite, knowing it's pretty bad, because we didn't know we'd have to do A-W and now we're short on time. Oh, and parts of the code still do X.
Now, wait a year for one third of the team to leave because they're rushed, overworked, burnt out, going in a different direction... and another third to get laid off because the project went way over time and budget...
4. Previous developers did X, Y, and Z, and X, Y, and Z are bad, therefore, their code must be rewritten...
1. Previous developers did X and X is bad, therefore, their code needs to be rewritten without doing X.
2. Oh crap - turns out, the new code has all these requirements to match the old code's functionality in ways we didn't expect (letters A-W).
3. Okay, so we're doing Y and Z in the rewrite, knowing it's pretty bad, because we didn't know we'd have to do A-W and now we're short on time. Oh, and parts of the code still do X.
Now, wait a year for one third of the team to leave because they're rushed, overworked, burnt out, going in a different direction... and another third to get laid off because the project went way over time and budget...
4. Previous developers did X, Y, and Z, and X, Y, and Z are bad, therefore, their code must be rewritten...