Brutal refactoring, lying code, the Churn, and other emotional stories from Legacy Land

Working effectively with legacy code isn’t all about creating test harnesses before refactoring algorithms. The “safety first” strategy doesn’t always apply. Not if the code you’re looking at is LYING IN YOUR FACE anyway.

In this talk I’ll show you what brutal refactoring is. I’ll show you the red glowy eyes of the Churn. And I’ll hold up some big warning signs that should prevent you from producing legacy code today.

Table flips allowed.