Oh, yes! Applying the Broken Windows theory of criminology and social order to code (not to be confused with Bastiat's economic broken window fallacy).

A bit like the AntiPatterns thesis that good systems will have good patterns and bad have bad, and little mixing.

i suppose the author recently read The Pragmatic Programmer?

as with the same argument presented in that book, i have a little trouble with this since i've been under the impression the broken windows hypothesis was discredited...