In Defense of Not Understanding Your Codebase

In defense of not understanding your codebase

I argue that in large software systems, expecting engineers to fully understand the entire codebase is unrealistic. Unlike small projects where total comprehension is possible, massive systems require working with partial theories. I challenge the idea that we should always rebuild from scratch, emphasizing that navigating complexity with imperfect knowledge is a necessary and valid engineering practice.

"In sufficiently large codebases, everyone operates with an incorrect theory of the program."