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by TeeDub 4934 days ago
InclinedPlane mentioned "Working Effectively with Legacy Code," and I'd just like to add that's one of the greatest software engineering books out there.

Feathers (the author) methodologically chose to copy / inspire some of his examples from code he's worked with as a mentor / developer (some of it from his time @ Thought Works w/ Beck, et al.)

The book is similar to Fowler's Refactoring in that it provides some core thought processes / ideology and then a long list of heuristics and techniques for revising/updating legacy code. (I find his definition of "legacy code" as any software without automated testing to be challenging and insightful, especially since it indicts most code written ever. ;)

If you get the chance, you could also consider reading "Clean Code", it doesn't have /as much/ "real world" source but is still excellent.