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Is it better to start from scratch rather than refactoring? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org to c/programming@beehaw.org

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Refactoring gets really bad reviews, but from where I'm sitting as a hobby programmer in relative ignorance it seems like it should be easier, because you could potentially reuse a lot of code. Can someone break it down for me?

I'm thinking of a situation where the code is ugly but still legible here. I completely understand that actual reverse engineering is harder than coding on a blank slate.

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[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What often happens next is the realization that the existing system was handling far more edge cases than it initially appears. You often discover these edge cases when the new system is deployed and someone complains about their use case breaking.

The reverse is also sometimes true and it's when a rewrite is justifyable.

I've worked with many systems that piled up a ton of edge cases handling for things that are no longer possible, it makes the code way harder to follow than it should.

I've had successful rewrites that used 10x+ less the amount of code, for more features and significantly more reliable. And completely eliminated many of the edge cases by design.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 days ago

Yes, there's usually a niche case, right? That's why cargo cult engineering comes nowhere near the real thing.