Refactoring vs. Rewriting
With legacy code, how do you know when it's best to rewrite over refactoring? ...
legacy
Will MS drop support for XP in .Net 4.* or 5.*?
Does it matter to developers that the current, and newer versions of .Net don't support windows 2000? It scares me to think that several of my clients still use Windows 2000 and although I may decide to stop supporting Windows 2000 one day, I don't like that Microsoft is pushing it on people's products. Could anyone see Microsoft doin...
How to get effect of sorted database view?
I'd like to be able to (effectively) sort a database view - I know that conceptually order in a db view is invalid, but I have the following scenario to deal with: a third-party legacy application, that reads data from database tables using a select(*) from tablename statement the legacy application is very sensitive to the order of th...
Converting C source to C++
How would you go about converting a reasonably large (>300K), fairly mature C codebase to C++? The kind of C I have in mind is split into files roughly corresponding to modules (i.e. less granular than a typical OO class-based decomposition), using internal linkage in lieu private functions and data, and external linkage for public func...
How to reverse engineer undocumented legacy application?
Once I was assigned to a project which was about adding couple new features to the existing Java based web application. Because it was a matter of just couple simple features there was no chance for rewrite. Unfortunately, the code base came from a client without any documentation and the code itself wasn't commented too well. The orig...
Adding unit tests to an existing project
My question is quite relevant to something asked before but I need some practical advice. I have "Working effectively with legacy code" in my hands and I 'm using advice from the book as I read it in the project I 'm working on. The project is a C++ application that consists of a few libraries but the major portion of the code is compil...
How would you maintain legacy applications
How would you maintain the legacy applications that: Has no unit tests have big methods with a lot of duplicated logic have have No separation of concern have a lot of quick hacks and hard coded strings have Outdated and wrong documentation Requirements are not properly documented! This has actually resulted in disputes between the tes...
How might I update this code
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Application data synchronisation - running the new app in tandem with the legacy
We're in the process of replacing a legacy system. There is going to be a period of time with both the applications running in tandem. Users will be able to use either system and the challenge is to be able to keep their databases in sync with each other. The new system is ASP.NET and the legacy is VB6. Both are running on a SQL Serv...
What data access strategy for a large application
I am about to embark on a rewrite of a VB6 application in .NET 3.5sp1. The VB6 app is pretty well written and the data layer is completely based on stored procedures. I'd like to go with something automated like Linq2SQL/Entity Framework/NHibernate/SubSonic. Admittedly, I haven't used any of these tools in anything other than throwawa...
Is the .NET Framework usable on Win98?
I need to write a little tool for a customer to be run on Windows 98. Since this is a very small project I'd hope that I could avoid having to go native C++ and use C#. The .net Framework 2.0 download claims to support Windows 98. Are there any caveats or hitches to be aware of when installing or coding? ...
Strategy for large scale refactoring
I'm currently working in a piece of code where both logic and data access are present in the GUI classes. Obviously, I would like to improve on this situation. The current current structure is basically: Big ball of mud The ultimate goal is to achieve a DDD-like structure: DAL Domain model Service layer Presentation model GUI So...
Unit Testing Legacy ASP.NET Webforms Legacy Applications
I've inherited a legacy web application that has no unit tests in it. I'd like to add some, but am at a loss of where to start. Should I add them to old code? Or just new code going forward? What if that code interacts with legacy code? What would you suggest? ...
Can you declare a pointer as extern in C++?
I have the following bit of legacy C++ code that does not compile: #include <stdio.h> #include <iostream> extern ostream *debug; GCC (g++) complains: "expected initializer before ‘*’ token" Looking around it seems more common to declare these as external references, like this: extern ostream& debug; Why is a pointer not valid, bu...
How to deal with long running Unit Tests?
I've got about 100 unit tests and with a coverage of %20, which I'm trying to increase the coverage and also this is a project in development so keep adding new tests. Currently running my tests after every build is not feasible they takes about 2 moments. Test Includes: File read from the test folders (data-driven style to simula...
Have you ever worked on "old school code" that makes you die a little every time?
I feel like I die a little on the inside every time I work on converting this legacy code to Web app. The database is crap. All the filed and column are nvarchar and blank (Empty string) suppose to mean Nothing (Null) instead using Null to mean nothing. For something like percentage instead of using decimal. You tag on extra two zero and...
Would you recommend Java/Glassfish/Metro for brand-new project?
I developed in ASP.NET 2.0 for some time, and for slightly less time in Java/Spring/Hibernate. Right now I start developing new web-service and am confused with the choice of: .NET WCF 3.5 versus Java/Metro. From one side, WCF seems like a brilliantly developed solution, a masterpiece of software frameworks, with all the support for fu...
Is anyone still programming in ObjectStar (formerly known as Huron)
Huron was a 4GL that originated in the IBM 360 mainframe world in the early 1990s, created and sold by the Amdahl Corporation. It had a proprietary interpreted language and database that people either loved or loathed, and its most notable features were its unusual Rules Language syntax, and its tight integration with its query language...
Dead languages
At which point should you (or your company) ditch the language used for many years, for which you have the workforce, simply because it became irrelevant or much better alternatives came into the marketplace? Edit:It is a tough proposition because for example, I know of companies that are stuck with PowerBuilder. They have so much inves...
How can I export data in a legacy DOS application when no export option is available?
We've been given the task by my customer to export data from a legacy DOS system, using a RAIMA database, so it can be imported into a new system we are writing for them. It looks like the data is stored in a flat file format, though when we open the files most of the text is gibberish. We do see Raima Database Manager along the top ...