“If every part of a ship is replaced over time, is it still the same ship?”
– The Ship of Theseus
This ancient thought experiment has puzzled philosophers for centuries, from Heraclitus to John Locke. But in our world of software, we can ask a modern version of the same question:
💻 The Code of Theseus
If every line of code in a software project is eventually rewritten, every dependency upgraded or swapped, and every contributor replaced — is it still the same app?
It might still look the same. The branding, domain name, and user experience might remain familiar.
But under the hood? A total transformation.
🧩 Software Is Built to Change
In long-lived software projects, it’s rare for original code to survive untouched. Over time, things change:
- Monoliths become microservices
- Legacy frameworks are replaced (think AngularJS → React → Svelte)
- APIs are versioned, then deprecated
- Features are added, removed, or entirely reimagined
- New engineers come in with fresh opinions and best practices
Ask anyone who’s worked on a product for more than a few years — it eventually becomes unrecognizable.
🤖 What Happens When AI Starts Writing the Code?
Today’s software is increasingly co-authored — or even fully written — by AI:
- GitHub Copilot offers completions for entire functions
- ChatGPT generates business logic, boilerplate, and tests
- Prompt-driven code generation is emerging as a serious development model
What happens when most of a codebase is machine-generated?
- If AI rewrites legacy code, is it the same software?
- If the original human-written code disappears, who’s the real author?
- If prompt engineering replaces manual coding, where does identity lie?
⚖️ So… What is a Software Project?
Let’s try to define a software project's identity by various factors:
| Defined By | Is It Still the Same App? |
|---|---|
| Codebase | ❌ Not if everything is rewritten |
| Feature set | 🤷 Changes over time, but might preserve essence |
| UX / UI | ❌ New design can change the perception completely |
| Domain / Brand | ✅ Often the most stable part |
| Team | ❌ Teams churn; culture evolves |
| Purpose | ✅ If the core mission remains the same |
Maybe the story behind the app — not the components — is what we really cling to.
🌱 Final Thought
Software is a living thing.
It evolves. It breaks. It grows new limbs and sheds old skin. With AI accelerating this transformation, we might see software reinvented completely in months, not years.
And still… the idea persists.
So is it the same app?
Well — it depends on what part of the ship you’re standing on.
💬 What do you think? Have you worked on a codebase that became unrecognizable over time? Or led a rewrite that still “felt” like the same product?
Let’s talk in the comments 👇