In software development, we're spoiled. We can write a single line of code and do some interesting things. If we add a framework, that single line of code is backed up by thousands.. and can do even more impressive things. [...] I can't tell you how many people have pitched me to "rewite web2project using [framework x]." At first pass, it sounds like a great idea. We can lay the foundation for doing things "right." We can use the latest and greatest tools, technology, and concepts. Even better, we don't have to figure out all that old crappy code! It's open source so it's free anyway. Everyone wins! How many times have you looked at an application and thought "I could rebuild that in a weekend!"

He points out the "seductive" nature of this kind of thinking and some of the things that it can hide from your immediate vision. These are things like: the lessons that were learned and implemented in the current code, catch up vs new development on the project and the possibility of "killing the community" as they'd no longer know which part of the project to contribute to.

He suggests instead of worrying about a rewrite, that development groups worry more about managing technical debt in their applications and reducing that piece by piece instead.

We're proud to announce that we're celebrating our "100th Monthiversary" - our 100th monthly meeting - on Thursday, September 6th from 6pm to 9pm! We're planning a cookout with plenty of social time and will have Kevin Roberts presenting Pecha-Kucha style on the eight and a half year history of our group followed by Elizabeth Naramore as the featured speaker presenting on "Technical Debt". We'll also have a number of special guests from the greater PHP community, including group founder Ben Ramsey, Cal Evans, and others.

There'll be plenty of food, tech talk and giveaways at the event - not to mention Elizabeth Naramore's excellent "Technical Debt" talk. The prizes will include IDE licenses, books, gift cards, and the grand prize - a Nexus 7 tablet! Keep tuned to the Atltanta PHP site for more information as it comes.

• Brandon Savage's blog entry kicking off the discussion by noting that not commenting the code is the "accrual of technical debt".
• In his blog post Marco Tabini mostly agrees with Brandon's comments with one difference - he suggests that correct code doesn't need comments.
• Dagfinn Reiersol takes a more pragmatic approach to the issue and wants to see the code before making a decision on whether the comments are needed or not.
• Benjamin Eberlei reinforces this refactoring idea and suggests staying away from ambiguous names and unclear code practices.
• Richard Thomas notes that comments have their place but they don't need to be taken to either extreme.
• Rob Allen's opinions on Benjamin Eberlei's thoughts
• Brandon Savage's reply to all of the criticism he's recieved over his initial post

Posted any thoughts or comments of your own on the subject and do see them here? Let us know!