How To Not Get Frustrated Working With Legacy Code.
There’s no doubt that working with Legacy Code can get frustrating.
We, developers much prefer building software from scratch. It gives you the feeling of control, speed, and satisfaction once you’re done. The contrary holds for working with Legacy — we lack control. We lack speed if we need to rerun the system to see our changes. We fear breaking something. This inevitably leads to dissatisfaction and frustration.
But it doesn’t need to be this way — there are ways of making work with legacy code more satisfactory, faster, and safer — Sprout Technique is one of them.
The technique is as follows:
- Write your code in isolation — for example with Test Driven Development.
- Identify where the code should be called.
- Call your code from the Legacy Code.
It is the way of working with Legacy.
No more reloading your system to observe the change.
No more fears that you break something — you have full control over the new code — it can be covered with tests perfectly.
No more frustration.
Or at least way less of it.
Read more about Sprout Technique and others for working with legacy code at https://understandlegacycode.com/.
I’ve worked with legacy systems for over 2 years and this has been my go-to place to get advice on what to do. Save this resource and save yourself a lot of frustration. And even if you’re not working with Legacy right now, you can find a ton of useful tips there. Don’t miss out!