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Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

aakashns.com

31–40 of 62 posts

Re: Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

#31
post #6

> modules that accounted for less than 0.1% of page visits. This meant I could remove them entirely without affecting 99.9% of users. No it doesn't, these are different metrics, same user that does those 99.9% visits could once in a blue moon want to visit a very important page, and be negatively affected. And this could (in theory) be the case for every single user The Word screenshot is another illustration of the…

Yeah, I'm thinking about the apps I use all the time and the features that I rarely use but would miss. Like reset password... or account cancellation ... stuff like that.

We have a linux user self-serve page where we can reset our passwords when they expire. The catch is we never use said password because all logins are done with keys but you can't login if your password is expired. So imagine someone "data-driven" getting rid of that page because it is rarely used.

Why do the passwords expire if they're not used? "best practice"

Re: Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

#32
post #14
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it a common practice to commit dependencies into the project repo? If so what type of projects do that?

The type of projects where you want to be able to run them in 20 years.

I think you meant run away from them, and immediately.

Re: Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

#33

Just because a function is”seldom used” shouldn’t schedule it for execution. Users might seldom use something but really need it.

It's also gaslighting ... I'm also imagining a whole bunch of users trying to find some rarely used feature that they remember being there, isn't in the menu anymore and questioning their sanity.

> isn't in the menu anymore and questioning their sanity

Pretty much every OS update and new A/B tested web page out there...

Re: Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does compiling your dependency differently help with dependency management?

That's the neat part: you don't You do not compile your dependencies

Even if they don't distribute binaries for your target?

Re: Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

#37

> While I knew that some pages were less frequently visited than others, I was surprised to see that there were modules that accounted for less than 0.1% of page visits. This meant I could remove them entirely without affecting 99.9% of users. I could delete entire directories containing dozens of files and thousands of lines of code. I don't know about the author's application, but a data driven approach is not goin…

This is the line that I came to the comments looking for.

It's possible that the author did take this into consideration and glossed over the details, but it's not something that I as a reader take for granted. And it's not something that I as a coworker would take someone's word for, especially if they didn't list at least some examples of the things being removed.

Not trying to pile on the author. Trimming the fat on a codebase is great, and for sure a worthwhile exercise that not enough organizations pay mind to.

Re: Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

#38

Huh, this is exactly how Evernote ported their application. Removed a bunch of features that paying customers only used "sometimes". After a couple of years the feature set has mostly returned. I cancelled my subscription and mostly moved to other apps. I still utterly despise everybody at Evernote.

And they focused on fancy notebooks and pens instead of what had been an amazing and market leading piece of software.

It still hurts a little every time I think about it. I really liked that product.

Re: Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

#39
post #6

> modules that accounted for less than 0.1% of page visits. This meant I could remove them entirely without affecting 99.9% of users. No it doesn't, these are different metrics, same user that does those 99.9% visits could once in a blue moon want to visit a very important page, and be negatively affected. And this could (in theory) be the case for every single user The Word screenshot is another illustration of the…

Isn't the standard corollary to that "80% of features not being used" statement that it's a different 80% for every user?

Re: Deleting 50k Lines of Code in 3 Days

#40

Just because a function is”seldom used” shouldn’t schedule it for execution. Users might seldom use something but really need it.

It's also gaslighting ... I'm also imagining a whole bunch of users trying to find some rarely used feature that they remember being there, isn't in the menu anymore and questioning their sanity.

> It's also gaslighting

You mean it's an abusive relationship between the developer and the users?

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