Complete Rewrite vs Incremental Refactoring
Developers should consider a Complete Rewrite when maintaining legacy code becomes too costly, risky, or slow, such as with systems built on obsolete frameworks or with poor documentation meets developers should use incremental refactoring when working with legacy systems, large codebases, or in agile environments where continuous delivery is prioritized. Here's our take.
Complete Rewrite
Developers should consider a Complete Rewrite when maintaining legacy code becomes too costly, risky, or slow, such as with systems built on obsolete frameworks or with poor documentation
Complete Rewrite
Nice PickDevelopers should consider a Complete Rewrite when maintaining legacy code becomes too costly, risky, or slow, such as with systems built on obsolete frameworks or with poor documentation
Pros
- +It is useful for modernizing applications to leverage new technologies, improve performance, or enable new features that the old architecture cannot support
- +Related to: technical-debt-management, legacy-system-modernization
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
Incremental Refactoring
Developers should use incremental refactoring when working with legacy systems, large codebases, or in Agile environments where continuous delivery is prioritized
Pros
- +It reduces risk by avoiding big-bang changes, enables faster feedback loops, and helps maintain system stability during improvements
- +Related to: test-driven-development, agile-methodologies
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
The Verdict
Use Complete Rewrite if: You want it is useful for modernizing applications to leverage new technologies, improve performance, or enable new features that the old architecture cannot support and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.
Use Incremental Refactoring if: You prioritize it reduces risk by avoiding big-bang changes, enables faster feedback loops, and helps maintain system stability during improvements over what Complete Rewrite offers.
Developers should consider a Complete Rewrite when maintaining legacy code becomes too costly, risky, or slow, such as with systems built on obsolete frameworks or with poor documentation
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