Turning a pile of spaghetti into a set of nearly orthogonal grids
This is really the heart of the problem I’m dealing with. I have a plate of spaghetti. My client has given me a zip of over eleven-thousand files, full access to their servers, and a mission to fix this mess.
I have no other info to go on. So what do I do? I’ll tell you what I do.
Compile the .java source files. If you cannot get it to compile GTFO.
If you’re still with me…install the site, get it halfway running, on my dev server. Begin to follow links in the browser, quickly fix easily-fixed broken links. Save my work. Tear down the server. Start over.
This time through most of the links work. Now is when this gets to be a rinse-and-repeat thing…get some logging statements into the important methods. Something like “entering MyClass.doStuff()” and “exiting MyClass.doStuff()”. Fix easy-to-fix compiler warnings…just the safe ones. Rebuild, push the changed classes or the whole application on your dev server. Click through it. Look through the log file(s) and note your “entering”/”exiting” messages.
Rinse-and-repeat. Eventually that plate of spaghetti will look like some weird Asian cuisine, all artful and orthogonal.
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