In software engineering, the point of inelegance when a codebase will collapse in on itself like a mud house. It is conceptually similar to the Chandrasekhar Limit, the mass above which a star can collapse into a black hole.
A codebase that has surpassed the adobe threshold cannot be completely understood at one time, because its complexity is too much for someone to keep in their head. This can lead to additional problems ranging from duplicated code to whole systems that do nothing but fight each other.
Collapsed codebases are not maintainable, which means they cannot have bugs fixed or functionality added. Engineers may contain collapse by applying emergency encapsulation measures, walling off entire features like junk-filled rooms in a vast house.
A codebase that has surpassed the adobe threshold cannot be completely understood at one time, because its complexity is too much for someone to keep in their head. This can lead to additional problems ranging from duplicated code to whole systems that do nothing but fight each other.
Collapsed codebases are not maintainable, which means they cannot have bugs fixed or functionality added. Engineers may contain collapse by applying emergency encapsulation measures, walling off entire features like junk-filled rooms in a vast house.
If you bring in any more mercenary programmers, our codebase is going to pass the adobe threshold and collapse.
by El Dragon Rojo May 9, 2010