Bad Programming

To anyone who doesn't know a lot about computer programming, some of it is done really stupidly. Here is an analogy to help explain what I mean. Suppose that Ford made Model T's (which indeed they did). But now they are going to make a brand new, state of the art, modern automobile. But instead of rewriting the design, they simply write the new portion and add it to what already existed. Essentially, your new car would simply be a Model T with a shiny new outside. However it would drive down the road; and the time and effort and expense of rewriting the entire program would have been avoided. Then you could say, "Wow! see? I built this new car in an hour!" But actually you built a Model T with a new paint job.

Eventually, the "duct tape" holding the new and old pieces together will start to fail. Someone can come in and try to retape it which just adds more tape to the already confusing mixture of old and new. It has now become way more confusing than if only the necessary and newer portions existed—but now it is all dependent on the original obsolete parts. You may have saved time, labor and money originally, but now your brand new Model T is going to fail. Just give it time.

And that my friends, is bad programming. Unfortunately it is too common. Over the years as more different people patch the original old crap, it becomes virtually impossible to keep it functioning correctly because there are too many interdependent pieces that have no direct value to the final product.