Critical mass (software engineering)

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In software engineering, critical mass is a stage in the life cycle when the source code grows too complicated to effectively manage without a complete rewrite. [1] At the critical mass stage, fixing a bug introduces one or more new bugs. [2]

Tools such as high-level programming languages and techniques such as programming in the large, code refactoring and test-driven development, exist to make it easier to maintain large, complicated programs.

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References

  1. "Sharks, Debts, Critical Mass and other reasons to Sustain Quality". Archived from the original on 21 January 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  2. "critical mass". Catb.org. Retrieved 2013-09-08.