Incessant coding problems

[gbozz]

I have a site where the previous developer looks to have written sloppy code. Every few weeks a new bug is uncovered. Yet, they often claim that they cannot seem to fix it. Or when they do fix it, the do a sloppy job with the fix, which leads to bugs of its own.

Rather than bringing someone in to do a full re-coding of the site, is there such a thing as having a 3rd party do a 'code audit' or something similar on my site?

[rocknbil]

Welcome aboard gbozz, part of the problem there is that an audit is most likely going to suggest a rewrite, because if you fix one thing it may reveal something else.

For example, if a poorly scripted Javascript fails to function, once it's fixed it may properly call up a shopping cart item only to reveal a problem in the shopping cart coding, whether it be PHP, perl, or even an improper administrative setting. You wouldn't be able to see the second problem without fixing the first.

Or when they do fix it, the do a sloppy job with the fix, which leads to bugs of its own.

In my experience there are two things at play here: the most common (for me anyway) is the customer constraints: "Fix this, only this, don't touch anything else, I'm only paying you for THIS." Once that is fixed, it often leads to discovery of other problems, in which the customer feels I should have just fixed the "new issues" by default. Make sure you're not setting up your developers for a fall in this way.

The other is you are selecting developers by the lowest cost. Someone good at what they do would be able to adequately survey the situation and wouldn't do any work until they make you aware of the potential larger problems. Someone new in the game wouldn't know to do this.

I'd say bite the bullet, find someone who can give you a reasonable rework, and go over the whole deal.