Uncovering Your Code’s House

<p>Not too long ago, I wrote about the&nbsp;<a href="https://betterprogramming.pub/the-underestimated-importance-of-clear-code-ownership-baed758e47b8" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">importance of code ownership</a>. While it is a fundamental principle, it&rsquo;s often neglected as time passes. Without clear ownership, you&rsquo;ll end up with messy legacy code.</p> <p>Code is like a house. We build it to live in it. It needs to be taken care of. How it turns out is how much we care for it. So, what type of house is your code?</p> <h1>A Haunted House</h1> <p><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:630/0*WpjrjPHKEXfSZRw_" style="height:500px; width:700px" /></p> <p>Photo by&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/it/@victorchaidez?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Victor Chaidez</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Unsplash</a></p> <p>It was built many, many years ago. It was once a glamorous place to code. Each developer felt proud of having their name on the contributor list of the git-repo.</p> <p>But since ownership changed over and over, the new owner may have had too many systems to maintain, so they left this one unattended.</p> <p>The last time its code changed was months, if not years, ago. No one dares to change any line of code within. At most, they are OK to add a patch here and there on a needed basis.</p> <p>From the outside, you can still see it&rsquo;s structurally decent, but no one wants to go inside.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:630/0*bq02o43ffQLwjfN1" style="height:468px; width:700px" /></p> <p>Photo by&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/@qwitka?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Maksym Kaharlytskyi</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Unsplash</a></p> <p>Officially, there&rsquo;s an owner to it, but in reality, no one owns it. It just rots further.</p> <p><a href="https://betterprogramming.pub/uncovering-your-codes-house-120d8f31075d">Read More</a></p>