Working Effectively with Legacy Code • Michael Feathers & Christian Clausen • GOTO 2023

This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. #GOTOcon #GOTObookclub http://gotopia.tech/bookclub Read the full transcription of the interview here: https://gotopia.tech/bookclub/episodes/228 Michael Feathers - Author of “Working Effectively with Legacy Code” & Chief Architect at Globant @Globant Christian Clausen - Author of "Five Lines of Code" & CEO & Founder of Mistware @thedrlambda8148 RESOURCES https://github.com/features/copilot https://xp123.com/articles/procedural-and-declarative-tests https://owasp.org/www-community/Fuzzing https://youtu.be/4cVZvoFGJTU https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/paretoprinciple.asp https://codescene.com https://www.sonarsource.com/products/sonarqube DESCRIPTION Get more out of your legacy systems: more performance, functionality, reliability, and manageability Is your code easy to change? Can you get nearly instantaneous feedback when you do change it? Do you understand it? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you have legacy code, and it is draining time and money away from your development efforts. In this book, Michael Feathers offers start-to-finish strategies for working more effectively with large, untested legacy code bases. This book draws on material Michael created for his renowned Object Mentor seminars: techniques Michael has used in mentoring to help hundreds of developers, technical managers, and testers bring their legacy systems under control. The topics covered include • Understanding the mechanics of software change: adding features, fixing bugs, improving design, optimizing performance • Getting legacy code into a test harness • Writing tests that protect you against introducing new problems • Techniques that can be used with any language or platform with examples in Java, C++, C, and C# • Accurately identifying where code changes need to be made • Coping with legacy systems that aren't object-oriented • Handling applications that don't seem to have any structure This book also includes a catalog of twenty-four dependency-breaking techniques that help you work with program elements in isolation and make safer changes. * Book description: © Pearson Education: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/working-effectively-with/0131177052 The interview is based on Michael's book "Working Effectively with Legacy Code": https://amzn.to/3ZFQoMU TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 02:21 Will AI make refactoring obsolete? 06:51 What is legacy code? 14:15 Code & debuggers 19:07 Advocating for testing in organizations 28:06 Breaking boundaries while refactoring 33:52 Balancing time investment: fixing vs avoiding legacy code 41:38 Scratch refactoring 45:02 Outro RECOMMENDED BOOKS Michael Feathers • Working Effectively with Legacy Code • https://amzn.to/3ZFQoMU Christian Clausen • Five Lines of Code • https://amzn.to/3s2zjyg Kent Beck • Test Driven Development • https://amzn.to/36kchvd Martin Fowler • Refactoring • https://amzn.to/3EVcHXQ Adam Tornhill • Your Code as a Crime Scene • https://amzn.to/3FI5E2V Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies • http://amzn.to/3sVLyLQ Eric Evans • Domain-Driven Design • https://amzn.to/3tnGhwm https://twitter.com/GOTOcon https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #SoftwareEngineering #Legacy #LegacyCode #Effectiveness #Testing #TDD #CodeQuality #ScratchRefactoring #DDD #ParetoPrinciple #QA #ComputerScience #MichaelFeathers #ChristianClausen #Programming CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1