* * * * *
                                        
                 Some musings on a fable of software engineers
                                        
[You might want to read this first [1]. –Editor] [Really? –Sean] [Really. Or
don't. But don't say I didn't warn you. –Editor] [Sigh. –Sean]

I was reading The Codeless Code: Case 41 Garbage [2] (link via Lobsters [3])
and my initial thought was that the head monk might not have much experience
with source control. I know I only first started using source control back in
2000 (CVS (Concurrent Versions System) [4]) and not to control multiple
versions but to allow an easy method to update the code from a remote
location. Before the use of source control, I found myself commenting out
code to keep it “just in case.”

These days, I no longer keep commented out code (erm … um [5] … okay, I
should probably just remove the code and convert the information into a real
comment) but the thought did strike me that, okay, I remove the code but I
have to remember the code existed at one point. Or a maintainer will have to
be cognizant enough to search the history looking for deleted code that could
be useful. There's very little indication of code that's been removed.

Just a thought.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2018/08/24.1
[2] http://thecodelesscode.com/case/41
[3] https://lobste.rs/s/dfye0n/codeless_code_fables_koans_for_software#c_aceo0h
[4] http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/cvs
[5] https://github.com/spc476/mod_blog/blob/3aa54424ab488bea5dc217448bfd154f78ae1e8c/src/callbacks.c#L867

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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