When to give in and start The Big Rewrite?
- by John Cromartie
I've had my share of projects where the first thing I think is "let's just rewrite it in ." Everybody feels the urge at some point. In fact, I think I've had the urge to rewrite pretty much every project I've ever been on.
However, it is accepted wisdom that a total rewrite is generally a bad idea. The question is: when do you look at a project and say: "OK, it's time to start over."
What sort of metrics or examples can you cite of where a rewrite was truly necessary? How bad does the code have to be? How old can a project get before there too much invested?