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by Alterlife 1992 days ago
It isn't technical debt any more if you can default on it.

It's stable? It's fast? It works? No bugs have been reported on it for years?

Regardless of how I 'feel' about that piece of code, I objectively should _not_ touch it.

1 comments

> more if you can default on it

I have not seen this use of the word "default" before. Does it mean "not touch"?

They're referring to the "debt" bit of "technical debt". If you default on a loan then that means you did not pay back a payment that is due, at least not on time. If this happens enough in real life you might end up with bankruptcy. If you could default on a loan and suffer no consequences then it might happen more often!
That makes perfect sense. Thank you