

Discover more from Arlo | Refactoring with Depth
Kicking Re-Writes to the Curb.
Yes, there are reliable practices for getting gnarly code under test!
After all. Re-writes are expensive, risky, and leave you worse off than before.
Yes, it always seems like it is the cheapest, safest, and easiest solution. But ask yourself, when is the last time you experienced a re-write that didn’t result in two systems and a bunch of users who couldn’t or wouldn’t move off the old system? Voila! Two systems from now on. Forever.
What we’re really afraid of when we consider re-writes is legacy code’s Chasm of the Unknown But Definitely Hard. Re-writes have a certain charm where it’s more predictable, can incorporate modernity, and let’s face it, more fun.
What if, though, there are concrete techniques that make refactoring that gnarly legacy code not only safe, but also fun? That make you capable of getting it under test?
We’re going to give that to you.
You may have noticed the past two years of newsletter struggle. In 2020, Arlo discussed gnarly code challenges and how to refactor them. In 2021, Arlo focused on the necessary steps to get legacy code from clogging up your DevOps pipeline.
But we always danced around the actual techniques that are sold in our flagship workshop and certificate. Now we’re going to simply share those techniques (dribbling them a little bit at a time of course) along with a short video from Arlo. After all, the real product we sell is the ability for developers to become proficient with those techniques quickly, in their codebase, and at scale. But that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from the techniques themselves!
Stay tuned.