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I'm just looking for some general advice I can offer my friend who's in a tricky predicament involving a project he hired a software company to develop for him.
A few days ago, my friend calls me in a panic to see if I can help resolve an issue he's having. He owns a small business in the medical industry & hired a software company to develop some software for his business. Development started about 9 months ago, using AngularJS. This software company got about halfway through development before their sole developer who was working on the project left & they needed to hire a new developer. For some reason, this new developer informed the software company the entire project needed to be upgraded to Angular 4, and the company agreed to move forward with the upgrade (at this point, I don't know the specifics as to why this was decided). This developer then left the company as well. Fast forward to now & 1 or 2 additional developers who have come and gone, & the application is now a mess & they're telling my friend they're stuck & not sure how to move forward.
The trouble seems to be about 10,000 lines of code which was originally written in AngularJS, which contains crucial medical info & very delicate medical rules that cannot be incorrect & the software company's been unable to upgrade this code into Angular 4.
So, after speaking with my friend, I've offered to at least speak with the current developer to see his pain points but I'm curious if there's any advice anyone can give as to best handle this situation?
They've already developed a great deal in Angular 4, but for some reason, can't upgrade about 10,000 lines of Angular JS code. Do I recommend they revert everything back to AngularJS & redevelop anything they've written in Angular 4, back into AngularJS? Do I say they just need to keep trudging through this code and make it work? Do I simply say they're out of luck?
I know this is a very general question but just looking for some general advice or questions I should ask them. I have a call with them today to figure out more details as to what's going on.
Thanks in advance.
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Lawyer up.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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This software company is willing to talk about how their project is elephanted up and take resolution advice from a complete stranger? I agree with Griff.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Goalie35 wrote: The trouble seems to be about 10,000 lines of code which was originally written in AngularJS, which contains crucial medical info & very delicate medical rules that cannot be incorrect & the software company's been unable to upgrade this code into Angular 4.
I think that the bold part above should invite extreme concern. If the code cannot be ported to another language I would be asking - "Where are the unit tests?" It should be possible to port the code and via the existing and new unit tests prove that the new code is not broken.
If the answer comes back that "There are no unit tests" then the integrity of the "very delicate medical rules" comes into question and with it the whole of the project.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Of course it can be upgraded. Someone is lying or stupid.
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Thank goodness for that, sometimes the blindingly obvious just slips past me.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Goalie35 wrote: hired a software company to develop some software
He hired a company; how the company divides the work and retains employees is up to that company.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Just ask him how long would it take to finish the migration of the 10,000 lines of code after his review to the Angular 4,then you can ask your friend in the business if that timeline is acceptable to him.
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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There are a lot of signs as to what is wrong:
1. Goalie35 wrote: AngularJS, which contains crucial medical info & very delicate medical rules
That is huge flag that things are incorrect. AngularJS is technology for front-ends. It's really just VIEW code. But the developers have mixed in the business rules and business logic that should have been safely nestled away in the back-end with no worries about what was displaying (angularjs) the data.
That's quite terrible really. This is a big point because it proves the original devs had no idea what they were doing.
2. Goalie35 wrote: 10,000 lines of code which was originally written in AngularJS
10,000 lines of code!!! Another flag that something is very likely wrong.
This is just the VIEW code and it is 10,000 lines long.
A little math puts it in context: 10,000 / 50 lines (8.5x11 - approximate) = 200 pages of code.
Oy!!
These are just indications that there were many bad ideas involved.
That is why devs are fleeing the project.
You should ask them:
1. Why was business logic and bus. rules mixed on the View?
2. Why did it take 10,000 lines of code?
3. Why wasn't there any oversight of the original dev?
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Good point. It also means the business rules are being shipped to the user in the browser.
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Unless you actually want to get suckered into that project...I'd say run. Don't even offer any sort of advice, because if they're truly elephanted, they're going to see you as their savior, and next thing you know they'll be offering you what might appear at first like a big fat chunk of change but will turn out to be a living nightmare.
Of course I know nothing about the situation beyond what you've already written...but I'd be extra paranoid about this sort of thing. You've already raised the red flags yourself: Two developers have already taken a stab at it and quit...
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I think the logical thing to do is to rebuild this, using Angular or React, from scratch. Probably Angular, but a NEW project that can willingly copy old code, but never accidentally inherits anything that's not been vetted
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AngularJS is in maintenance, it should never have been used. they should never revert. There is no such thing as AngularJS code that can't be ported to Angular4 (although it's up to 7, why are they on 4?)
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Have your friend walk away, sue the crap out of the software company to try and get funds back. Raddevus makes an excellent point - this project has been designed WRONG it is never going to come to fruition. Cut your losses and start again. The absolutely worst thing your friend can do is to invest another cent in anything but legal action against the software house.
There are many of us out there who work for small software houses or are single developers but your friend got a lousy one, next time he needs to do some due diligence on the quality of the software house.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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Is a really sad bird a Despairrow?
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Is a blue jay feeling blue?
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Haven't you heard about the bluebird of happiness?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I thought it was a desparrot!
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
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And a dead desparrot is known as a polly-gone.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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And a lonely one is a monopoly.
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
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I see your point but I think you may have crossed a line with that one.
Socialism is the Axe Body Spray of political ideologies: It never does what it claims to do, but people too young to know better keep buying it anyway. (Glenn Reynolds)
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Feather or not that's true, it took a lot of gull to post. No eggscuses. What would claws you to waste your talons on this is a mystery
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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OG just lets his ideas take wing... 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I just hope he doesn't get soar about it.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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A really flighty bird would be a lark.
A really happy bird would be a hummingbird.
…
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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