Making New vs Maintaining Products

WHEN MAKING NEW PRODUCTS OF COURSE WE'LL ADD THIS FEATURE AND A FEATURE FLAG TO ENABLE IT, NO PROBLEM WHEN MAINTAINING MATURE PRODUCTS NEW FEATURE X WILL INTERACT WITH FEATURES A,B,C,D,E, PREVENT USAGE OF FEATURES F,G,H, DEPRECATE FEATURES I,J,K, CAUSE UNDEFINED BEHAVIOUR OF FEATURES L,M,N, REGRESS ON TESTS FOR FEATURES O,P,Q

A split-panel meme contrasts a cheerful developer adding features to a new product with an exhausted-looking captain maintaining a mature product. The punchline is that adding a feature to an established codebase creates complicated interactions, deprecations, undefined behavior, and regressions. It is shared as a reaction to the difficulty of maintaining legacy software.

• @profunctor_io / 8794 2023-04-03