Hi All,

Hope y'all good...

I been handed over a project without documentation to support it.

I am lost coz I am not even sure what the app is supposed to do. So far I been playing with it and looking at the code with break points here and there to understand how it works and what it is supposed to do. There is a tester though that knows well the app that I can refer to.

I need to write a functional requirement for myself... first how would you call this process from code to functional requirement? I know not "reverse engineering" but obviously "reverse something"

How would you approach it?

Thanks
Eric

 

I would imagine that you need to be very conversant with the particular code in order to 'reverse engineer' the purpose of the code.
What type of project are we talking?
What type of code?
Max.

 

I don't know why it wouldn't be called reverse engineering.

The tricky part is not so much figuring out what the code does (which can be tricky enough by itself), but figuring out WHY it does it -- that's what the functional requirements need to reflect.

 

Here is a question.. If only one other person knows what the app does (a tester no less), why does it rxist?

 

I don't know why it wouldn't be called reverse engineering.

The tricky part is not so much figuring out what the code does (which can be tricky enough by itself), but figuring out WHY it does it -- that's what the functional requirements need to reflect.

EXACTLY!!! The 'Why' part is surely a business rule that I need to know and understand. The code is just the implementation.

 

I would imagine that you need to be very conversant with the particular code in order to 'reverse engineer' the purpose of the code.
What type of project are we talking?
What type of code?
Max.

It's a mobile application written in Java and I would say badly written because I see methods with 450 lines of code and I'm like WTF #angry !!!
Not a modular code. I DEFINITELY have to REFACTOR this code without breaking it

 

Here is a question.. If only one other person knows what the app does (a tester no less), why does it rxist?

Sorry I didn't get the "why does it..." part. I will definitely have to sit with him...

 

Take the tester to lunch and get him to tell you what the app is "supposed" to do. That will save you hours of head banging.

 

Take the tester to lunch and get him to tell you what the app is "supposed" to do. That will save you hours of head banging.

Right! Plus the app has some bugs that needs to be fixed BUT how am I going to fix anything if I don't even understand what it is supposed to do and its flow... so frustrating... Will make friend with the tester and take him to lunch...

 

Bring a tablet to write on and press him for details after he gives the overview. Non-programmers end to omit what seems to them to be small details, but can actually be critical.