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The surface area represents the increasing functionality of the application.
The volume represents the increasing codebase to maintain.
(use this metaphor to explain to PHBs)
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But it works the other way around, Shirley?
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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Duncan Edwards Jones wrote: to PHBs
They just want you to "push the envelope".
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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Sometimes they like to float some paradigms outside of the box to see who salutes.
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We're slowly, but surely replacing our Legacy code with new versions that will no doubt in the fullness of time become the new Legacy code.
Psychosis at 10
Film at 11
Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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Those that don't keep past source code can not rebuild it.
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DannyVarod wrote: Those that don't keep past source code can not rebuild it. True, so true. I keep everything, except from one place where the code was caca and my attempts to clean it up just encouraged them to continue using it.
However (sniff) I just had to pitch several cases of source listings I either wrote or annotated from my days of Apple II 6502 Assembly programming that were water damaged.
Psychosis at 10
Film at 11
Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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Software people have changed the meaning of "legacy" - for the worse IMHO. Legacy used to mean something impressive, prominent and well respected. In software circles, it doesn't mean any of these things.
This[^] says it all.
I'm retired. There's a nap for that...
- Harvey
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"anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor: the legacy of ancient Rome. "
A legacy can be legendary, but that's not a requirement for a legacy.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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I completely agree with you! I have made beaucoup money working on legacy code.
Nothing is my fault, I always have an excuse (these days, the original developers are DEAD), and their only choice is to re-write a perfectly functioning system, even if clunky.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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There are (according to Gartner research) 14 billion lines of VB6 programming still in use.
Who is going to rewrite that ?
The reality is that much legacy code will remain. If and when we get to the position that the software will not run (presumably on some future version of Windows, or when there is no longer a Windows desktop) then the users won't upgrade from their existing version of Windows.
With Visual Basic 6, most legacy programming is likely to remain in use on Windows or on VMs or on an emulator (WINE or whatever else becomes available).
Update or open source the VB6 programming language
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It will fade away eventually.
I have a 30yr old piece of software I am replacing because it only runs on XP now (still DOS based).
But I noticed 2-3 other pieces of VB6 code that are no longer needed, specifically BECAUSE they are
moving away from that platform...
So, I will vote that some will be killed off, and much of it will die for a lack of need.
The great thing about good code, is that it should not have to change. Although, when
that really happens, people move to new, living software
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That is just the way it should be.
It shouldn't be that Microsoft 'decides' everyone should re-write their software in a new Microsoft language every few years.
Now is the time for Microsoft to either update or open source the VB6 programming language ? Why won't they ? Perhaps they realize that updated VB6 programming would be more popular than their newer languages.
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VB6 Programming wrote: The reality is that much legacy code will remain. If and when we get to the position that the software will not run (presumably on some future version of Windows, or when there is no longer a Windows desktop) then the users won't upgrade from their existing version of Windows.
I worked in a place once, when WinNT4.0 was deprecated... they bought hundreds of extra licenses to make sure they could keep producing new systems for a specific client. It mattered not in the least if it was still supported or not. There were no plans to ever upgrade - it worked, it was a closed system - there was no need to ever change.
Edit:
In retrospect... I wonder if the cost of the 'inventory' of licenses outweighed the cost of actually upgrading or not? I guess it is really all about how finance works the books.
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At times it may feel like it's increasing but in the sum of everything that happens I think it always averages out to being about the same as usual. If sustaining was increasing I imagine businesses would be getting really concerned.
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Every day you write something you have more legacy code too.
Stop now and you can alleviate this whole problem.
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I currently maintain 2 applications built in PowerBuilder (PB) and I help with a 3rd.
I didn't know PB at all when I started. I was surprised to learn that there was much more to the language than what I thought. However, there are some extreme shortcomings with the language which make it difficult/impossible to do certain things with it without using external components.
The applications themselves actually perform well, and they basically get the job done. Since there is a directive from upper management to phase out all PB apps within a few years, they will need to be rewritten in something else. There really aren't many great alternatives which would provide the same ease of development. The linchpin of PB is, and always has been the Data Window. It makes it very easy to build a window with full CRUD to a database. So far I haven't found anything that is as easy, versatile, etc. as the Data Window in any other language.
We are currently looking at rewriting everything in .Net. Quite a bit of our middle tier is already written in C++, or VB.Net. It certainly won't be an easy task once we start rewriting everything.
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I've never tried it; but MS Lightswitch[^] is, IIRC, intended to be a quick way to slap together CRUD web applications.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Define "legacy"
(Other than a concatenated qualifier of one's walking appendage[s] and connected gluteus maximus...)
Especially if yer the only programmer at a locale for 7+ years!
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And I quote: "code that relates to a no-longer supported systems or features".
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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Except for that the stuff I wrote over the last two years has been labeled "legacy" as we move on to "Phase 2" of the project.
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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My last job was so bad that I was no longer a software developer and eventually had to leave because of it. I had 6 hours a week allocated for development, the rest was for the 12 to 15 systems I maintained. The worst was a web site with 547 tables, the 2nd worse was a client server application with around 4000 input boxes, most without field validation. When I left it was split up between 4 people.
I don't believe in rewriting software because it is bad or old, but I do believe is software development process and testing disciplines. If we can get it out of the door with near zero bugs, the software will be easy to maintain and eventually become forgotten.
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