addendum

it's like when i was at microsoft - some parts of the powerpoint code base were ancient (perhaps even from the very first release of powerpoint). yet, they had been edited and re-edited to be transformed into this monstrosity where nothing made any sense or was effective enough anymore. but who would want to do the hard(er) work of deleting it all to start afresh? not unless the manager stepped in and asked for just that, right? not all of us can be diligent all of the time...

well, there is a manager, for those of us who believe. and sometimes, the code just desperately needs to be written from scratch. more work, yes, but it's worth an assured promotion, right? a bonus too, perhaps?

:)