[thelist] new situation
Karl Bunyan
freelance at core10.co.uk
Tue Aug 3 09:22:56 CDT 2004
I've recently had to do this a couple of times. One I decided we could
take on, one seemed to be beyond saving (cheaply). The main things I've
taken from those experiences are:
- Taking on another developer's work is always going to be hard and the
first day or so will probably make your head spin in complete
bewilderment
- Try to resist the urge to rewrite unless it's absolutely necessary
(and even then think again)
- Don't be too disparaging of the previous developer's work, either of
the code or documentation, as it won't help you and in the course of a
project there are often reasons why corners have been cut (e.g. time
constraints, changing brief) that you probably won't know about
- if it's anything like most long-term projects then the requirements
will have changed and the code design will probably have been bent to
fit its purpose in a few places. On the plus side, it's a good point to
get a fresh perspective on the problem.
Hope that's some help,
Karl
> -----Original Message-----
> From: thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org
> [mailto:thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org] On Behalf Of
> evolt at mccullough-net.com
> Sent: 03 August 2004 14:12
> To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
> Subject: [thelist] new situation
>
>
>
> I am looking at going into a company and having to look at
> what the previous
> developer did, and learn their whole process and what the
> code looks like and
> so on.
>
> However, and theres always a however. I got the distinct
> impression that the
> documentation is sparce, if there is any at all. Its a
> tomcat/mysql setup. I
> have asked for the layout and architure of the network and
> servers, more of a
> topographical map, code, database structure and data export,
> any and all
> documentation as well as some resumes from the support staff.
> Going to ask
> for the versions of the various applications.
>
> Any thing that has helped you guys in the past get
> information quickly?
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