Controlled Fires and Source Control
September, 2007
I deleted a big chunk of code recently. It was written months ago and just wasn’t in use, so it needed to go. There’s always an emotional attachment to code, though, so deleting it is like burning up your old love letters. You know you should probably do it, but you’re conflicted and it’s painful.
I bet the people who set off controlled forest fires have a similar feeling. They have to burn down trees and fauna that they helped create. But you’ve got to toss out the old to make room for the new.
Luckily, though, there’s source control! You can delete whatever you want and it will still be in your revision history. You’ll never go back and restore deleted code, but knowing that you could helps you do what’s necessary.
As I write this, I remember that there’s a whole namespace in XobniCommon that needs to die. I’ll take care of that tomorrow.