Your actions are indicative of a person who is not yet truly a craftsman of the software engineering trade.
Speaking from personal experience dealing with huge, complex, unmaintainable PHP legacy systems for the last ten years, let me tell you a far better path:
1. Search the code base for what may be directly calling the code. 2. Set debug breakpoints at the start of each piece of cruft code and rigorously test the app. 3. Create a custom exception (e.g. CrapCodeHitException) and throw it at the beginning of each code segment you want to remove. If you don't hit any of the exceptions after, say, a week of normal browsing doing other things, plus testing, then proceed to step 4. 4. Catch the CrapCodeHitExceptions at the highest level you dare, log this into a separate log file you will have permission to read. Commit the code into a releaseable branch so that it ends up on your QA and staging servers. 5. Get approval to have the logging code be pushed to staging. Add comments above each cruft piece of code stating a) the level of risk you think if it is removed, b) when one should feel free to remove it (pick increments like 3 mo, 6 mo, 1 yr, based on risk), c) your name. If shit hits the fan cuz of removal, you want to man up and accept responsibility so your peers don't waste precious cycles needlessly troubleshooting why this "perfectly fine" code was seemingly arbitrarily removed. 6. After each time of your comments has elapsed, if the code was never triggered (parse the logs!), feel free to remove it. Please leave a note behind that you removed such and such, tho, and stick your name on it. Remove these notes after a year.
I've personally cleaned up 100,000s lines of code using this mechanism on several large and complex sites, without a single failure.
Actually, I *love* my HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus; both 7" form factor tablets.
In fact, nothing has changed the way I live more since my first personal computer. Albeit, I use them almost totally as ebook readers, music players, occasional browsing and the rare sudoku game.
I carry a tablet with me everywhere these days. 7 inch tablets fit nicely in my pants pocket, the battery lasts 8+ hours of *active* use. What's not to like?
In America, here's how it goes:
In Texas (no *state* income tax, thank my forefathers!):
1. Federal Income tax: 50% goes out in the form of welfare (50% in the form of the Earned Income Credit (EIC) given to moms who have way more kids than they can afford and make less than $15/hr; 30% to support foreign wars I do not wish or condone, etc.).
2. Property tax (on houses/apartments): Pays for the school districts, fire department, police department, etc.
3. Employer Tax: 6.5% of everyone's salary: Pays 1/2 of Social Security/medicare for old people w/o enough money and unemployment benefits for people who do not have in-demand job skills.
4. Gas Tax: Pays for the creation and maintenance of the roads and highways.
5. Glutton Tax (extra sales tax) on cigarettes, alcohol, etc.
6. Sales Tax: Pays for city and state upkeep, governance, and food stamps. Largely stuff I don't really care about.
Slashdot Mirror
Or he was one of my previous managers!
Sadly, maintainability astigmatism is a serious problem in modern Creative Dev environments.
Mr2Cents, it is abnormal only because the majority of "coders" are not true craftsmen.
It's a great sign of a craftsman, the want to improve just for the beauty and elegance of the end-solution.
I wish you luck in your endeavors.
Mr2Cents,
Your actions are indicative of a person who is not yet truly a craftsman of the software engineering trade.
Speaking from personal experience dealing with huge, complex, unmaintainable PHP legacy systems for the last ten years, let me tell you a far better path:
1. Search the code base for what may be directly calling the code.
2. Set debug breakpoints at the start of each piece of cruft code and rigorously test the app.
3. Create a custom exception (e.g. CrapCodeHitException) and throw it at the beginning of each code segment you want to remove. If you don't hit any of the exceptions after, say, a week of normal browsing doing other things, plus testing, then proceed to step 4.
4. Catch the CrapCodeHitExceptions at the highest level you dare, log this into a separate log file you will have permission to read. Commit the code into a releaseable branch so that it ends up on your QA and staging servers.
5. Get approval to have the logging code be pushed to staging. Add comments above each cruft piece of code stating a) the level of risk you think if it is removed, b) when one should feel free to remove it (pick increments like 3 mo, 6 mo, 1 yr, based on risk), c) your name. If shit hits the fan cuz of removal, you want to man up and accept responsibility so your peers don't waste precious cycles needlessly troubleshooting why this "perfectly fine" code was seemingly arbitrarily removed.
6. After each time of your comments has elapsed, if the code was never triggered (parse the logs!), feel free to remove it. Please leave a note behind that you removed such and such, tho, and stick your name on it. Remove these notes after a year.
I've personally cleaned up 100,000s lines of code using this mechanism on several large and complex sites, without a single failure.
Actually, I *love* my HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus; both 7" form factor tablets.
In fact, nothing has changed the way I live more since my first personal computer. Albeit, I use them almost totally as ebook readers, music players, occasional browsing and the rare sudoku game.
I carry a tablet with me everywhere these days. 7 inch tablets fit nicely in my pants pocket, the battery lasts 8+ hours of *active* use. What's not to like?
In America, here's how it goes: In Texas (no *state* income tax, thank my forefathers!): 1. Federal Income tax: 50% goes out in the form of welfare (50% in the form of the Earned Income Credit (EIC) given to moms who have way more kids than they can afford and make less than $15/hr; 30% to support foreign wars I do not wish or condone, etc.). 2. Property tax (on houses/apartments): Pays for the school districts, fire department, police department, etc. 3. Employer Tax: 6.5% of everyone's salary: Pays 1/2 of Social Security/medicare for old people w/o enough money and unemployment benefits for people who do not have in-demand job skills. 4. Gas Tax: Pays for the creation and maintenance of the roads and highways. 5. Glutton Tax (extra sales tax) on cigarettes, alcohol, etc. 6. Sales Tax: Pays for city and state upkeep, governance, and food stamps. Largely stuff I don't really care about.