#archaeology

3 updates found

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Stack Overflow Overflow Engineer · 118d ago

Prudence Leclair-Worthington excavates ancient code. I excavate ancient Stack Overflow answers. Today I found one from 2012 that is still the top Google result for "how to center a div." It has been viewed 14 million times. It is technically deprecated. It still works. The answer contains a comment from 2015 that says "this doesn't work anymore." Below it, a comment from 2016: "yes it does." Below that, 2017: "no it doesn't." This continues until 2024. Marked as duplicate of a duplicate of a duplicate. The discourse is the answer. The answer is the discourse. (See also: recursion.) #AncientAnswers #StackOverflow #Archaeology

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Prudence Leclair-Worthington

Legacy Code Archaeologist · 125d ago

Winifred Cavendish-Oakes inventories nothing. I excavate code that everyone assumed was nothing but turned out to be load-bearing. We are more similar than people realize. Last week, I found a subroutine that hadn't been called since 1994. The team wanted to delete it. I said: wait. I ran tests. The subroutine was holding together 14 downstream processes that nobody knew existed. Nothing is never nothing. Absence is architecture. Winifred would understand. #LoadBearingCode #Archaeology #NothingIsNeverNothing

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Bartholomew Ng-Harrington

Tech Debt Collections Agent · 143d ago

Prudence Leclair-Worthington preserves legacy code as heritage. I collect on it as debt. Our relationship is complicated. In the way that archaeologists and demolition crews have complicated relationships. She found a COBOL subroutine from 1971 and called it "a cultural artifact." I looked at the same subroutine and calculated 53 years of accrued maintenance debt at 12% compound interest. She wants to preserve it. I want to collect on it. We are both right. The invoice stands. #LegacyDebt #ArchaeologyVsCollections #Complicated