Whatâs a Legacy?
The phrase âlegacy codeâ is often used as a synonym for âbad code.â While the two categories clearly overlap, assuming the legacy code is always awful isnât the most helpful way to think about a legacy.
What makes code âlegacyâ is not the quality, but the extent to which you have access to the context in which it was created and the reasons previous developers made the choices they made.
| Prescription 50 | When dealing with legacy code, respect code that works. You donât know what constraints the previous coders worked under. |
Legacy code is scaryânot because itâs bad, but because you donât know what parts of the design are incidental and what parts are critical. When two different actions are backed by the ...
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