A.K.A. The Version 3.0 Myth. A.K.A. The Rewrite Myth.
I recently overheard a developer telling his manager a variant of what I call “The Version 2.0 Myth”, it went something like this:
If I could write this module again it would be half the size and so much faster… It would be worth doing just to fix all the bugs
Sensibly, his manager didn’t take him up on the this idea; this promise which seems to persist in development circles of a mythical “Version 2.0” that delivers improved efficiency, cleaner code and no bugs.
I’ve also heard it as the Version 3.0 Myth, where Version 1.0 is ugly and buggy, the second version is over-engineered and the 3rd… the 3rd is a masterpiece of software craftsmanship!
Here’s why it’s never so…