Comments on: Rewriting a (large) PHP application in Rails, part 2 http://www.railsguru.com/articles/2006/12/19/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2/ Andy Lo-A-Foe's weblog Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:03:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Jim http://www.railsguru.com/articles/2006/12/19/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-257 Jim Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:20:33 +0000 http://www.railsguru.com/2007/08/16/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2#comment-257 "I figured it would have take much longer if I had examined the PHP code myself. " way to be the analyst who doesn't even know the code he wants to change. Lazy bones jones. "I figured it would have take much longer if I had examined the PHP code myself. "

way to be the analyst who doesn’t even know the code he wants to change. Lazy bones jones.

]]> By: Bob http://www.railsguru.com/articles/2006/12/19/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-258 Bob Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:20:33 +0000 http://www.railsguru.com/2007/08/16/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2#comment-258 You really should check out the original code. Usually that's where you'll find the exceptions to the business rules you had the meetings about. :-) I've been through a few of these now and I might not know _exactly_ what I'm looking at, but I'll write down enough info that when I say "It looks like in October something happens with [insert product/service]" that I'll get a few "Oh yeahs!" or sometimes a "we don't have to do that anymore." It's better than October rolling around and the customer wondering why action "fubar" didn't take place in the new system (of course, they'll forget the parts of the meeting where you repeatedly asked "is that it?"). You really should check out the original code. Usually that’s where you’ll find the exceptions to the business rules you had the meetings about. :-)

I’ve been through a few of these now and I might not know _exactly_ what I’m looking at, but I’ll write down enough info that when I say "It looks like in October something happens with [insert product/service]" that I’ll get a few "Oh yeahs!" or sometimes a "we don’t have to do that anymore."

It’s better than October rolling around and the customer wondering why action "fubar" didn’t take place in the new system (of course, they’ll forget the parts of the meeting where you repeatedly asked "is that it?").

]]> By: andy http://www.railsguru.com/articles/2006/12/19/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-259 andy Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:20:33 +0000 http://www.railsguru.com/2007/08/16/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2#comment-259 Since I had access to the current and future users of the system and they knew most the business rules, not to mention new rules that were not even in the PHP application I tought it was best to talk to them directly instead of go hunting for rules in gazillion of files. Remember, the original application was not MVC so there was no single place to look for all the logic.<br/> <br/> Of course they did forgot some things and a specific part of the moderating backend was actually built to moderate on totally different conditions than was intended. But by now we were in Rails land so refactoring (both the code and the database) took only a couple of hours. But as I said, sometimes you might not be lucky enough to be able to pick the brains of the user. In that case mining the legacy (PHP) application becomes inevitable.<br/> <br/> @Bob: spot on :-)<br/> <br/> -andy Since I had access to the current and future users of the system and they knew most the business rules, not to mention new rules that were not even in the PHP application I tought it was best to talk to them directly instead of go hunting for rules in gazillion of files. Remember, the original application was not MVC so there was no single place to look for all the logic.<br/>
<br/>
Of course they did forgot some things and a specific part of the moderating backend was actually built to moderate on totally different conditions than was intended. But by now we were in Rails land so refactoring (both the code and the database) took only a couple of hours. But as I said, sometimes you might not be lucky enough to be able to pick the brains of the user. In that case mining the legacy (PHP) application becomes inevitable.<br/>
<br/>
@Bob: spot on :-) <br/>
<br/>
-andy

]]> By: Joseph Scott http://www.railsguru.com/articles/2006/12/19/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-260 Joseph Scott Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:20:33 +0000 http://www.railsguru.com/2007/08/16/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2#comment-260 Andy - I think the comments on looking at the code were intended as an addition to meeting with users, not an instead of. During a conversion earlier this year at work we reviewed the existing code and interviewed users. Found both to be very helpful. Andy – I think the comments on looking at the code were intended as an addition to meeting with users, not an instead of. During a conversion earlier this year at work we reviewed the existing code and interviewed users. Found both to be very helpful.

]]> By: Vincent http://www.railsguru.com/articles/2006/12/19/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-261 Vincent Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:20:33 +0000 http://www.railsguru.com/2007/08/16/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2#comment-261 Great addition! Unfortunately it seems to not work with umlauts & other special characters... Great addition! Unfortunately it seems to not work with umlauts & other special characters…

]]> By: shakira http://www.railsguru.com/articles/2006/12/19/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-262 shakira Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:20:00 +0000 http://www.railsguru.com/2007/08/16/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2#comment-262 Fantastic article covering some points I really needed some good usability info for. Best regards from Poland Fantastic article covering some points I really needed some good usability info for.
Best regards from Poland

]]> By: JP http://www.railsguru.com/articles/2006/12/19/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-263 JP Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:20:00 +0000 http://www.railsguru.com/2007/08/16/rewriting-a-large-php-application-in-rails-part-2#comment-263 Nice work, I have to say it's pretty handy... Nice work, I have to say it’s pretty handy…

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