icing, 16 days ago

@xahteiwi Let me add: "if you do not have enough test cases nailing down the expected behaviour."

And: "if your rewrite will not allow existing tests to run, it is not a rewrite."

xahteiwi, 16 days ago

@icing https://mastodon.social/@xahteiwi/112416666771667988

mdione, 16 days ago

@xahteiwi even with tests? but yeah, big gulps means you choke.

xahteiwi, 16 days ago

@mdione I've not come across a test suite that fully covers functionality, performance, and UX, and a project team that considers a regression in any of those a bug that needs fixing.

hikhvar, 16 days ago

@mdione @xahteiwi Most code bases have thorough unit tests and very few integration tests. Guest what kind of tests you throw out the window with a major rewrite...

xahteiwi, 16 days ago

@hikhvar This, and also: even if all your unit and integrations keep passing throughout the rewrite, all that effort is for naught if the rewrite just does not make sense.

“There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.” — Peter Drucker, 1963

@mdione