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May 10th, 2021 × #technical debt#development#programming

Hasty Treat - Technical Debt

Scott and Wes discuss what technical debt is, why it happens, and strategies to avoid it or work around it.

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In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about technical debt — what it is, why does it occur, and some techniques for reducing and avoiding it.

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Show Notes

03:17 - What is technical debt

  • Outdated or hard to update code
  • If you groan when you have to work on it, it might be a sign of technical debt
  • Brittle code, easily breakable
  • Quirks and features

06:55 - Why does it occur

  • Over time, any garden left un-pruned will become overgrown
  • Many people, many code styles
  • Using hot new frameworks / techniques
    • This is why seasoned developers don't jump on new things
  • You allow users to do literally anything

13:18 - Techniques for avoiding it

  • Deny your FOMO of new things
  • Abstract
  • Write good tests
  • Don't put off refactors
  • Update dependencies frequently
  • Good standards
    • Etsy has thousands of devs

20:08 - Examples in the real world

  • Airline websites open in new windows all the time
  • Cellphone carrier flashes the screen 100x

22:15 - Unfixable technical debt

  • Agency work sometimes

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