Because you asked for it, here's a page dedicated to the art of maintaining and lovingly preserving the most heinous, the most abysmal, the most utterly broken codebases the world has ever seen.
Back in the day, we used to code with pride, with passion, with reckless abandon. We wrote code that was so beautiful, it would make the gods weep with envy. Or, at the very least, it would make the average user wonder why the app still worked despite our best efforts.
Ancient MonolithsSo, why do we bother with legacy code? Well, it's like trying to save a dying star. It's like holding on to a sinking ship. It's like... okay, you get it. We do it because, somehow, someway, somewise, it still kinda works.
We've all been here before. We've all been trapped in this never-ending cycle of refactoring, of rewriting, of re-re-writing. It's a never-ending merry-go-round of 'improvements' and 'fixes' and 'band-aids.' And still, somehow, someway, somewise, it still kinda works.
Band-Aid SocietyAnd so, we continue to toil away, lovingly maintaining this... this... abomination. Because, in the end, it's not about the code, it's about the love. The love of our craft, the love of our users, the love of our own, personal, individual quirks and foibles.
Quirks and Foibles