This is the first week working on a large code base that was made by others.
It is great code, the problem is there is a lot of it and I don’t know any of it.
I as tasked with changing the style of a presentation on data. I was able to accomplish this but like
always I had to test that it worked.
I don’t just have to test that it works, I have to go back and fix the tests that I just made fail
because of this new code that presents data differently.
In doing so I had to learn about the database and how everything was stored so I could test correctly.
This is wild, there is so much going on, it is a mountain of information.
Now I was able to change part of the code, in order to make the broken test pass and make the system more robust.
This however broke more tests, many more tests.
This began the process of whack-a-code. for almost a full day, this cycle of fixing and breaking continued.
It was a great eye opener.
It is definitely best to be a boy scout and fix whatever you see. The bad part is it may take time to fix the mess you see.
Also, if you do a great job initially, then hopefully someone won’t have to clean up your mess.
Best,
Merl