Comments on: You just need to know enough to maintain code

By: Vincent Tan

Vincent Tan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:48:29 +0000

Hey Ben, that’s how I learn about the legacy systems I deal with! When there’s no value in going through the code, like a change request or something, there’s no point understanding everything.

Even then, if you had to go through everything, when would useful work be done?

By: Ben Barden

Ben Barden — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:27:44 +0000

Even if I had the time to study everything, I wouldn’t remember it. I only start to “get” how a program works when I deal with some real work, e.g. support calls, bug fixes, enhancements and the like. I agree that you don’t need to learn everything.

By: Vincent Tan

Vincent Tan — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:29:18 +0000

Sometimes, tinkering with existing code is harder than writing new code. Imagine having to understand every single programmer who had ever touched that code.

And the plugin concept is a great analogy! You just need to know enough of WordPress to develop something useful.

Ahhh, clients… so that’s what you’ve been up to…

By: Aaron Falloon

Aaron Falloon — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:27:29 +0000

I’m currently developing a website for a client, and I’ve decided to build it upon Wordpress. I don’t know everything about Wordpress, but by making a plugin I don’t need to know everything.

I think that people are taught that a brand new solution is needed every time, when sometimes something just needs to be “tinkered” with.