Modernizing Legacy Codebases without Stopping the World
Peter Muldoon
Every mature codebase carries history and technical debt. The challenge is modernizing without stopping the world or introducing big re-write failure risks.
In this talk, we’ll explore how to modernize legacy C++ codebases incrementally using a mix of deterministic code transformations and AI-assisted refactoring.
After delving into some of the common problems with legacy modernization, we'll start tackling the simple "boring" stuff that deliver huge leverage of changes via clang tooling. These represent repeatable, deterministic reviewable upgrades that can be automated and applied at scale.
Then we can look at more difficult transformations that can be AI assisted with more aggressive transformations including API improvements and how to prevent it going off the rails. This will be backed by Compiler diagnostics, static analysis and testing to keep changes maintainable and correct.
The goal is not to replace engineering judgment, but to accelerate it: turning modernization into a continuous, low-risk workflow instead of a disruptive project.
Attendees will leave with a repeatable playbook for modernizing legacy codebases incrementally, safely, and at scale—using the right tool for each class of change
Peter Muldoon
Pete Muldoon has been using C++ since 1991. Pete has worked in Ireland, England and the USA and is currently employed by Bloomberg as a senior Engineering Lead. A consultant for over 20 years prior to joining Bloomberg, Peter has worked on a broad range of projects and code bases in a large number of companies both tech and finance. Such broad exposure has, over time, shown what works and what doesn't for large scale engineering projects. He's a proponent of applied engineering principles, elegant solutions and expressive code.