Patching that up by using comments as a 'map' isn't the right way to deal with that. Refactors and rearchitecture are. Putting in comments just helps procrastinate what's necessary.
reply> Patching that up by using comments as a 'map' isn't the right way to deal with that.
replyThere is no right way. Only grey ones that help relieve pain for the team.
> Refactors and rearchitecture are.
Yeah... if you have the cash and the people. Usually, mature codebases are driven by limited investment with proven business value, because the sweet VC money is no longer there (or never was, in some industries).
It's difficult to refactor and rearchitect without first understanding what's there and why.
replyAnd yourself putting in comments is the solution to that?
replyRewrites require a lot of effort, significantly more than just adding comments. It’s a pragmatic tool until you actually have the time to do the rewrite.
replyI never said rewrites.
replyAnd the more you put in procrastination-encouraging half-solutions, the worse your code base gets.
Though the onus is on us to improve what our forebears wrote, for the sake of our own and others' future.
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