Refactoring in a large code base

[Charles T. Smith]

On Fri, 22 Jan 2016 12:19:50 +0200, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:

> We need similar code sanity management. Developers are given much too
> much power to mess up the source code. That's why "legacy" is considered
> a four-letter word among developers.

When I started in this business, in the mid-70s, there was the prospect
of my working under a "programmer-analyst" - there was, then, a whole
hierarchy of programmers.  I resisted that bitterly and was "lucky"
enough to be at the forefront of changes - I would be able to avoid that
until the concept was dead.

Now, 40 years later ... it seems like a good idea to me ... but more
dead than it's ever been and getting deader all the time.

Part of the problem is that the whole profession is dead - now the
people doing the programming are the application experts, and just
programmers are considered at the level that we used to consider
"operators" were at   :)