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by voakbasda 1634 days ago
Despite the implication otherwise, I have been a software engineer for 30 years. This is speaking as an active consultant in the embedded space. There is shit code everywhere, in nearly every single system. Some code may be "written that way for a reason", but it can simultaneously be utter shit. Working shit, but still shit.
1 comments

Yeah I am a big believer in https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...

If you do a from-scratch rewrite, you could stay in igorance and might make those mistakes. But if you do a refactor, especially one broken up into many steps like this Linux one, it in fact demonstrates a better understanding the existing code and any nuance than merely leaving it in place!

Not touching scary-looking code is just bad, and not a wise form of humility.