The code must be flexible enough to accommodate to change, change is a constant matter in software development and is such an important task that many if not most of the developers that join the software forces at the moment are tasked primarily with the task of maintain software and not many of them will ever get to write code or
develop new features or applications.
But what is legacy code?
In the industry, legacy code is often used as a slang term for difficult-to-change code that we don’t understand. But over years of working with teams, helping them get past serious code problems, I’ve arrived at a different definition.
To me, legacy code is simply code without tests. I’ve gotten some grief for this definition. What do tests have to do with whether code is bad?
Code without tests is bad code. It doesn’t matter how well written it is; it doesn’t matter how pretty or object-oriented or well- encapsulated it is. With tests, we can change the behavior of our code quickly and verifiably. Without them, we really don’t know if our code is getting better or worse.
Michael, C. (2008). Feathers. Working Effectively with Legacy Code.
