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Here be dragons

There are areas of a codebase that are more…involved than others. Where there is technical debt. Where things are particularly complex, sensitive to change, or undocumented.

It happens, and it’s best to give folks a warning.

A previous company I worked for had a large comment block in a certain part of the codebase that started out with, “Warning: Here be dragons”. According to Wikipedia, this phrase originated from maps to indicate dangerous or unexplored territories.

If you come across such a warning, take heed. The likelihood of introducing bugs will be higher. If you have to make changes, try to leave it better off than how you found it.

- Karl

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