When you inherit an existing application, you also inherit its extended family. The overly dependent inlaw controllers, the odd-smelling business logic uncle who makes inappropriate comments, the weird data access cousin that you don't understand but you have to accept because he's family. Over time, we become numb to these idiosyncracies and as the family grows, so do the problems.

In That Brownfield Book, we will define what a brownfield application is and lead you through the technical and political hurdles you'll face when wading (or wallowing) through a brownfield codebase. You'll learn how to incrementally improve the process around your application with effective use of source control, continuous integration, and automated testing. We'll demonstrate how to re-layer your application, tease apart dependencies, and ultimately, make your code more maintainable.

Peppered throughout the book are Tales From The Trenches, stories from our own experiences that outline both successes and failures in brownfield code.