[gwbas1c]

> Every experienced developer knows: never do a full rewrite.

> The rewrite took a couple of intense months, during which I maintained the existing application while building its replacement.

Having been through a rewrite in the past: You made the right decision. If a rewrite really is only a couple of intense months, it's worth it.

Otherwise, when your application gets into the "full of bad practices"; the alternative is to do major refactors.

I suspect that the application was small enough that the rewrite made more sense than a refactor.