There is a huge difference between code that's been optimized for decades and co... | Hacker News

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rbanffy on Sept 13, 2011 | parent | context | favorite | on: Is Ubuntu Driving Users Away?

There is a huge difference between code that's been optimized for decades and code that's plain old and there just because nobody ever touched it again.

Even code like IBM's VM should be updated when new processors appear (zSeries CPUs get updated from time to time).

As for code that's there just because it's old (and not because it has been carefully maintained for decades), I advise you to look into it. You probably learned something in the past decade that can improve it.

cturner on Sept 13, 2011 [–]

if it works and have stuff built against it, why would you touch it again?

rbanffy on Sept 13, 2011 | [–]

To improve it. Even IBM's VM could be improved (and was). The trick is trying not to break interfaces.

But even that is something you should do from time to time. I don't think many current versions of Windows support Win16 software.

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