I’m dusting off and publishing some old source code for fun over at code.phasedoor.com and will probably continue to do so over the next few months. There’s a now dropdown link in this blog’s title. Some of it probably still rough around the edges but I kind of like it that way at this point.

I try to explain to others the unique relationship that comes from maintaining an application for decades. The comments, the structures, the clevernesses, and the too-clever-for-your-goods are all part of the living document that is source code. And when that code persists far beyond your expectations, it becomes a window to your past self, like the rings in the trunk of a gnarly tree. My oldest code that’s still active today dates back to 1999. So many things have changed since then, but good comments can bring me right back to a moment in time. I was very late to using git so the discipline in keeping comments and backup copies was crucial.