

Symptoms of rotting design - Tihy
http://blog.tetrack.com/2009/01/on-code-quality-symptoms-of-rotting-design/

======
marcus
My number one symptom of rotting design is a lot simpler, I keep postponing
touching the code... If I do this for more than a couple of days it must be
really rotten.

~~~
sunkencity
nobody likes to work with legacy code... managing to work with legacy code and
without a steady stream of complaints is what separates a good programmer from
a noob.

~~~
marcus
Actually that is what separates the professional from the hobbyist (I've seen
both bad professional programmers aka 9-5ers and amazing hobbyists), and when
I work professionally both in my startup and in a previous life as an employee
I put on my waders and jump right into the thick smelly bog. But especially
when you take a couple of years of vacation and work for fun on projects that
interest you, you find out that sense of ickiness is probably the best
indicator of code rot.

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
One skill that I'm growing to appreciate as I become more experienced is the
ability to find a problem and determine if the best action is to do a
minimally invasive change, a workaround, or a full restructuring. I don't
always make the right call but I'm getting better at it.

