> that you think it is equivalent to “incremental rewrite” rather than one specific approach to incremental rewrite.
So why would I use the word "an" as in, "The Strangler Pattern is an incremental rewrite", as opposed to "the"?
> That's not at all what you said, though it's possibly what you meant,
Weird, the following was my first response to you. Shrug...
>Incremental rewrites assume that your framework of choice is still supported. In my experience, I would say 75% of the time someone is considering a rewrite, it's because their framework of choice is out of date, which makes it impossible to modify old code.
FYI - My choice of the word "impossible" was poorly chosen. It's not impossible, it's just stupid.
The original parent was basically asking "if we can't do strangler or big bang for a legacy app what else is there"? You suggested that incremental rewriting is a 3rd option and clarified that a Strangler Pattern is a subset of an incremental rewrite, which I agree. You implied that this meant continual use of an unsupported framework, which I sought to clarify and advise against.
> No, it's not, unless you are using “strangle” much more broadly than the Strangler Pattern, which isn't just an incremental replacement by a particular strategy for incremental replacement
I am indeed.
> characterized most notably by placing a request-intercepting facade in front of the old system.
This is incorrect. The Strangler pattern doesn't necessary mean you strictly write a facade. Furthermore, like all design patterns, they're up for interpretation. What determines the difference between a router, adapter, proxy and a facade? All technically can be used to intercept incoming requests.
Fowler, who popularized the Strangler concept, says[0]:
An alternative route is to gradually create a new system around the edges of the old, letting it grow slowly over several years until the old system is strangled.
AND then says
In particular I've noticed a couple of basic strategies that work well.
Which implies that there are various strategies (not just one) that are enacted under the term Strangler Pattern. Hence my previous comment "alternatives discussed here are simply subject to semantics and nuance". You could certainly use Adapters, Routers, Decorators, Proxies, Bridges, etc. for design patterns used in an overall Strangler strategy.
I think we're actually saying the same things, you just seem to prefer to be overly and unncessarily pedantic about your use of the terms Stangler and Facade.
[0] - https://martinfowler.com/bliki/StranglerFigApplication.html