So, I remember this one time, I got roped into figuring out this whole 'Malcolm Morgan' thing. Wasn't a person I ever met, more like a name attached to this… legacy. Yeah, that’s the word.
It all kicked off when my manager dropped this ancient piece of software on my desk. 'Figure it out,' he said. Classic. No notes, no handover, just stories about how 'Malcolm Morgan set this up ages ago.' Real helpful, that was.
Trying to Unscramble the Malcolm Morgan Files
First off, I tried asking around. 'Anyone remember this Malcolm Morgan guy? Or this system?' Got a lot of blank stares. Or folks would just say, 'Oh, that system. Good luck.' Real confidence booster, that.
So, I dived into the code. If you could call it that. It was more like a puzzle box designed by someone who really, really liked puzzles. And maybe didn't like the next person who'd have to look at it.
My days pretty much went like this:
- Staring at lines of code that made zero sense at first glance. Seriously, zero.
- Drawing diagrams on whiteboards, trying to map out how one bit connected to another. My whiteboard looked like a madman's scribblings by the end of the week.
- Finding comments like 'DO NOT TOUCH THIS - MM' or 'Magic happens here.' Super helpful, Malcolm, thanks a bunch. Really cleared things up.
The real kicker was the logic. Or the apparent lack of it, sometimes. It was like he had his own unique way of thinking that just didn't line up with, you know, how things are usually done. I spent ages just trying to get into that headspace, trying to think like Malcolm Morgan might have.
I even dreamed about it a couple of times. No joke. Me, stuck in a maze made of old computer tapes, with a faint voice echoing 'Malcolm Morgan was here… good luck finding your way out.'
What I Ended Up With
Look, eventually, I got the thing I needed to do, done. Sort of. It involved a lot of careful tiptoeing around what I started calling the 'Morgan Core' and bolting on new bits with a lot of hope and crossed fingers. Not exactly the elegant, clean solution I'd hoped for, but it worked. Ish.
What did I learn from all that? Well, for one, if you're building something, try to think about the poor soul who's gonna have to look at it five, ten years down the line. Leave some breadcrumbs, yeah? Some decent comments that actually explain stuff. A map, even. That'd be nice.
And honestly, sometimes you just gotta accept that some systems are just… haunted. Haunted by the ghosts of developers past, like our friend Malcolm Morgan. You do your best, try not to break anything too badly, patch it up, and move on. This whole Malcolm Morgan chapter? Yeah, I was pretty glad to close the book on that one, to be honest.
