I often think of source code like moulding clay. While you’re actively working in a codebase, the clay is moist and malleable. Making changes is easy, because the context of what it does, and how it’s organised is fresh in your mind.
But if you move on to another project and let time pass, the clay dries out and becomes brittle. When you open the project up again, it takes time to “wet the clay” - and remember all that context that you’ve forgotten. It’s easy to add bugs, or reimplement methods that already exist somewhere else under a different name. But over time, you work water into the clay and it becomes malleable again.
I agree with your comment. Refactoring software to split out libraries that you can opensource is a lot of work. More work than people realise. But if you think refactoring is a lot of work when the clay is wet, it’ll be many times harder if you let the clay dry first. Refactoring as you work is always the best way, because it’s often the only way to get it done.
But if you move on to another project and let time pass, the clay dries out and becomes brittle. When you open the project up again, it takes time to “wet the clay” - and remember all that context that you’ve forgotten. It’s easy to add bugs, or reimplement methods that already exist somewhere else under a different name. But over time, you work water into the clay and it becomes malleable again.
I agree with your comment. Refactoring software to split out libraries that you can opensource is a lot of work. More work than people realise. But if you think refactoring is a lot of work when the clay is wet, it’ll be many times harder if you let the clay dry first. Refactoring as you work is always the best way, because it’s often the only way to get it done.