Guiding Principles: Quotes from Andrea Goulet on 'Legacy Code'

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"Legacy Code is code that doesn't have communication artifacts that let you discern the rationale or intention behind it."

"It becomes Legacy Code once it has a long feedback loop, meaning as soon as the documentation is not readily available."


 {The relevant application of this principle is that it is not sufficient to make it obvious what the code is doing, for it to be clean and effective code it should also be discernable why it's doing it.}


Regarding comments and documentation:

"What am I going to need in 6 months to be able to context switch back to what I understand right now? Whatever is needed has to be provided now."


Regarding dependencies:

"Chaos theory teaches us that you can't build a repeatable process around Legacy Code. The more dependencies that you have in a system, the less likely you are to be able to accurately estimate the outcome."


Harvested from: Andrea Goulet 
Hanselminutes Technology Podcast - Fresh Air and Fresh Perspectives for Developers - Learning to love Legacy Code with Andrea Goulet from CorgiBytes

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