Quote:
Originally Posted by Varius
Solid point. Many a time I have seen people wanting the fastest "band-aid" solution, which isn't a real solution. It may work now, but it'll come off later and leave you bleeding.
That just reminded me of a point I forgot to cover in the original post:
Many times, a programmer may tell you "your project has to be re-done from scratch, the current code is a mess/unusable". While often true, I have also found that programmers push that option when its unnecessary for their own benefit. This way they get to do it "their way" as well as likely make more money (as it will take longer). The client should always be wary of restarting a project from scratch unless it truly is an irreparable disaster.
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Thanx.
On your point. There have been many times, when I have looked at someone else's code that I have arrived at the conclusion that I can write it from scratch faster than I can figure out what the other coder was doing.
If the job is something that is up and running, then I never push for a rewrite.
If the job is a rescue (and often that is where I come in) then I will push the re-write. It is not to put more cash in my pocket though. It is to get a job up and working as quickly as possible.
I don't know of a programmer around that while looking at someone else's code doesn't have the immediate reaction "Who wrote this shit?".
I try to get past that reaction and properly evaluate the code. Am I reacting to style or substance? If I am reacting to style I try to live with the code. If I am reacting to substance I push for the re-write.
I have found through the years that there are a bazillion (yes, thats a number) ways to code something. If all bazillion ways arrives at the same answer then they are all correct. Some may be faster, some may be more elegant but if they all reach the same result then they are all correct.
Just a little humor. I was in working on something about 2 weeks ago and had the usual reaction of "who wrote this shit?". Well, I wrote that shit about 8 years ago ;p It was a journey through what I had added to my knowledge base across the past decade to read through it and yes, I did a re-write.