Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael C. Feathers

#9 overall · 2 people · 2 threads · ISBN 9780131177055

Goodreads · Amazon · Open Library · First link posted on HN

What people said (2)

• rsanheim · 2026-08-27 in Show HN: The load-bearing vocabulary of Claude

  "seam" dates back to refactoring & software engineering literature that pre-date LLM use by 20 years -- see Working Effectively With Legacy Code for one example (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/working-effectively-wit...). Its a great book, still use techniques from it everyday. "load-bearing" I have never heard used for programming before Opus, and its incredibly annoying and over-used.

• shoo · 2025-11-19 in Ask HN: What does "legacy code" mean to you?

  Michael Feathers, author of the book "Working Effectively with Legacy Code", [f] defined legacy code as code without automated tests. From memory, the argument is that once you have automated regression/characterisation tests with sufficient coverage around the part of it you need to change, you're in a good position to attempt to make a change since you will be alerted if you are unintentionally…