Back دين تقني Arabic Deute tècnic Catalan Technische Schulden German Deuda técnica Spanish بدهی فنی Persian Tekninen velka Finnish Dette technique French חוב טכני HE तकनीकी ऋण Hindi Debito tecnico Italian
In software development and other information technology fields, technical debt (also known as design debt[1] or code debt) refers to the implied cost of additional work in the future resulting from choosing an expedient solution over a more robust one.[2] While technical debt can accelerate development in the short term, it may increase future costs and complexity if left unresolved.[3]
Analogous to monetary debt, technical debt can accumulate "interest" over time, making future changes more difficult and costly. Properly managing this debt is essential for maintaining software quality and long-term sustainability. In some cases, taking on technical debt can be a strategic choice to meet immediate goals, such as delivering a proof-of-concept or a quick release. However, failure to prioritize and address the debt can result in reduced maintainability, increased development costs, and risks to production systems.[4][5]
Technical debt encompasses various design and implementation decisions that may optimize for the short term at the expense of future adaptability and maintainability. It has been defined as "a collection of design or implementation constructs that make future changes more costly or impossible," primarily impacting internal system qualities such as maintainability and evolvability.[6]
- ^ Suryanarayana, Girish (November 2014). Refactoring for Software Design Smells (1st ed.). Morgan Kaufmann. p. 258. ISBN 978-0128013977.
- ^ "Definition of the term "Technical Debt" (plus, some background information and an "explanation")". Techopedia. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
- ^ Allman, Eric (May 2012). "Managing Technical Debt". Communications of the ACM. 55 (5): 50–55. doi:10.1145/2160718.2160733. S2CID 53246391.
- ^ Jeffries, Ron. "Technical Debt – Bad metaphor or worst metaphor?". Archived from the original on November 11, 2015. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
- ^ Knesek, Doug. "Averting a 'Technical Debt' Crisis". Retrieved April 7, 2016.
- ^ Avgeriou, Paris; Kruchten, Philippe; Ozkaya, Ipek; Seaman, Carolyn (2016). "Managing technical debt in software engineering (Dagstuhl seminar 16162)" (PDF). Dagstuhl Reports. 6 (4).