Naming is a Process, Part 7: Intent to Domain Abstraction

After 4 years, I’ve updated and re-written Naming as a Process as part of Deep Roots (my company which focuses on teaching these techniques as part of Code by Refactoring). The new version now contains the previously-missing final article!

New code is legacy code

My series about naming as a process is really about design. It focuses on design in legacy code. That has sparked people to ask about new code.

What about new code? Why not start with intent? I was taught to pseudocode or model, so that I could focus on the intent first. Then I don’t need all this after-the-fact concept discovery stuff.

  1. I always write new code with intent.
  2. I am never wrong about my intent.
  3. I’m never right either.

Continue reading “New code is legacy code”

Naming is a Process, Part 6: Does the Right Thing to Intent

After 4 years, I’ve updated and re-written Naming as a Process as part of Deep Roots (my company which focuses on teaching these techniques as part of Code by Refactoring). The new version now contains the previously-missing final article!

Naming is a Process, part 5: Honest and Complete to Does the Right Thing

After 4 years, I’ve updated and re-written Naming as a Process as part of Deep Roots (my company which focuses on teaching these techniques as part of Code by Refactoring). The new version now contains the previously-missing final article!

Naming is a Process, part 4: Honest to Honest and Complete

After 4 years, I’ve updated and re-written Naming as a Process as part of Deep Roots (my company which focuses on teaching these techniques as part of Code by Refactoring). The new version now contains the previously-missing final article!

Fixing Legacy: What Should I Blow Up First?

Another good question came over the wires at work. My reply grew too long and I figured more people would want to see it. Besides, this way I can blog and call it a legitimate business activity.

Problem statement: what patterns and strategies work for choosing when and what to refactor? Does this change at scale? Continue reading “Fixing Legacy: What Should I Blow Up First?”

Paying Down Code Debt

We have huge code debt. We want to pay it down. But we just can’t afford to this week (or last, or the one before that). How can we afford to pay down our debt?

OK, it’s not a direct quote. But I’ve heard something close to that often enough that random word ordering may have actually created exactly that statement at some point.

Here is a set of techniques that I’ve used in the past to start paying down debt in situations where we were all sure we’d never be able to afford to. Continue reading “Paying Down Code Debt”