Crawling an existing application to make changes to the database is a good idea?

Question

We have an existing "legacy" application written in C ++ / powerbuilder, running on Unix with its own Sybase databases. For complex organizational (existing applications must go through many short-term changes that need to be changed) and the reasons for the code (without repeated factoring for a year, therefore the code is spaghetti), it is therefore difficult to get the changes made for this application. Therefore, I am considering the possibility of writing a new modern, perhaps grails-based web application, to do some things like "admin" directly in the database. For example, to add users or add “restriction lines”.

What does the software community think of this approach to circumventing an existing application? A good idea? Tips and tricks?

Answer 1

A good idea? No.

Do you need it sometimes? Yes.

Living in a world where you sometimes have to do what you know is not a good idea? Priceless.

In general, you should always follow best practices. For everything else, there are kludges.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

, Joel!

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Answer 4

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Who is blamed? A recently departed developer who had to be encoded for more exceptions. Not the guys who set up red tape to control the changes. The guy who ended this control.

Good luck

Terry.