Why Do Applications Need Constant Updates? What is Code Rot?

Why can’t companies stop updating an application once it is complete? Why are they constantly making changes? How can code rot when no one is making any changes to it? We will answer these questions in today's Dev Questions episode.
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[@BeepBoop2221]

I was at a company that had a habit of hiring devs for a year and laying them off. They had me and two other guys trying to update the thing to fix it and then update the ui to work on phones. The two guys i joined were trying to weld together a system that didnt use any sort of ordered structure (no MVC), it running on a deprecated version of php and jquery. Trying to update either tanked the application. I wanted to just stop trying to patch it up, step back and redevelop for vue/laravel. They wouldnt do it and we instead spent an endless amount of time chasing bugs only to make more, so i eventually left.

[@IAmTimCorey]

I can understand both perspectives. On one hand, your company had invested a lot of time and money into the existing product. Think of it like owning a bad car. The car breaks down a lot, so you must pay for a mechanic every few months. Each time costs between $500 and $1,000 and it takes some of your time. However, selling the car and getting a new one means spending a LOT of money and you aren't guaranteed that the new car won't break down, yet you are making larger monthly payments for it. That's how managers see buggy applications. Sure, it is a pain to pay for bug fixes and when it breaks, it causes problems, but spending a lot of time and money on a new application that might not run any better than the old application doesn't sound appealing. On the other hand, as a developer, you want to take all of the lessons learned and create a clean, powerful application that is easier to maintain and has more of the features you've always wanted.

[@BeepBoop2221]

@@IAmTimCorey I think at the point I has turned up it was sunk cost. The second in command had wanted to use something off the shelf but the boss of the company insisted on carrying on with I think the aim to sell it to other companies in the industry. Which tbh was a total pipe dream.

I am into the Low Code space, working with Microsoft Power Platform. And I can tell you that these words definitely apply here too. The updates don't apply solely to the tech itself, but with LOTS of changes in the underlying APIs that the technology uses. Essentially, with "Connectors", which are nothing more than wrappers around existing APIs. As always, thanks a lot Tim for this very valuable content. What I learn from you this time is that we need to sell more the value of maintenance, updates and upgrades. This is the "price" of change; the price for getting better; the price to fuel the future.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks for sharing.

[@delw1138]

Looking at some of the early C# applications I created, there was a lot of rotten code. 😳

[@IAmTimCorey]

Yep, it happens.

[@spydermag5644]

I was with a company that would not move to Core. The biggest reason was it was going to cost a lot of money to get the base code upgraded to core by the company that built the application that they depend on to make their front end web UI. Now that company is discontinued that older version.

[@IAmTimCorey]

That's a fairly common story. It is easy to see the cost of doing something, but often people fail to account for the cost of not doing something. That cost can be quite high, but people seem to think that it is zero.

[@mattolinallc8888]

As a Software Engineer this true . The way I compare code rot is the human brain. You would have very to update your brain with information by learning. I really love learning in 5.55 seconds daily.😊😊😊 What concerns me about some people using software that are outdated which is dangerous like in life don’t be a dinosaur and be a Rosalina from another Galaxy that’s where the name Mattolina came from.😊😊😊🥰🥰🥰😇😇😇

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks for sharing.

[@khxml]

Fermented code probably doesn't exist, code that aged well.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Not really, but there are applications that work offline that are frozen in time and work really well. Those typically are in manufacturing, where the systems they run don't change much over time.

[@robbybankston4238]

Curious. What is your electrician's website for reference?

[@IAmTimCorey]

I'm not going to post the URL and I was careful about not mentioning his name because I don't want to put him on blast or publicly shame him.

[@robbybankston4238]

@@IAmTimCorey Understandable. I enjoy checking out retro sites but you're right. Thanks.

[@Sysshad]

I agree but the opposite is also important. Yin-Yang. We still sleep in beds, drink coffe in cups, use a toilet to pee. Not all things have to change to be optimal ;) Microsoft and the big companies loves forcing the thought that "nothing is good enough" upon us and when something new comes out "its the best invention since the wheel" /until next fantastic thing comes and suddely 'yee and behold' the last fanastic thing is now suddenly shite. Things can be good enough... thats something the world should aim more towards in realizing - sustainability. We dont need to invent the same thing over and over in different flavours and with new names :D

[@IAmTimCorey]

I hear what you are saying, but I don't really agree. Change is a part of life. For instance, the mattress I use today didn't exist 20 years ago. I also use a cooler under my sheet to bring down my core temperature at night. Those innovations have made my sleep a lot better. Innovation does tend to slow as the apparent optimal solution is reached. However, change continues to happen as further improvements are found and a new optimal is discovered. In the case of .NET, I'm not sure where you would have stopped the innovation. WinForms was deemed amazing back in the day. Same with WebForms. For a long time, very few people cared that .NET only ran on Windows. Now it runs cross-platform, but they are still working to get a good desktop option, they are just now settling in on a decent cross-platform mobile option, and Blazor is finally rounding itself out as a great web option. Most of the polish for those last two is coming in .NET 8. So what do you want to give up as not necessary? I'd also like you to consider your view on good enough. Are you satisfied with everything Microsoft has? You don't want any changes? Or do you just want the changes you want but no other changes? Because that's how a LOT of people are. If you check the .NET repo on GitHub, you will see a massive list of proposed changes. A small example: Visual Studio 2022 version 17.7 just came out. File compare was one of the things added. It had over 500 upvotes from the community suggestion site. They had lots of those types of items that they added, and there are a LOT of suggestions that haven't even made it in yet (and might not).