Timeline for At what point/range is a code file too big?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21 at 13:26 | comment | added | Juh_ | Clearly it depends on the actual situation. For example, for some business requirement, it'll be best to use tree or graph object. But note that even those often use lists internally: list of nodes, list of edges, ... This is more of a general rule, meaning that if a flat and a hierarchical structure are 2 equivalent solutions to a problem, the flat is probably easier to remember and to evolve. | |
| May 19 at 20:21 | comment | added | qwr | @Juh_ I disagree somewhat with the over general "flat is better than nested". Many structures in programming are naturally hierarchical. Modularity and separation of concerns, which is accomplished with hierarchies, is what makes for maintainable, usable code. | |
| Nov 2, 2020 at 12:01 | answer | added | user377672 | timeline score: 1 | |
| Apr 30, 2019 at 6:08 | comment | added | mckenzm | "Is that the source code?" "No, that's the makefile, The source code is in the trucks following behind". | |
| Apr 11, 2019 at 20:39 | answer | added | GetBackerZ | timeline score: 10 | |
| May 31, 2018 at 10:02 | comment | added | Juh_ | Note that complexity is not just about numbers, but also about structure. For example, I'd like to state the python zen "flat is better than nested": a flat list of 100 cases is simpler than a hierarchy (you won't remember all 100 cases but you easily remember that there are 100 alternatives). And a "regular" hierarchy where branches have the same structure than their siblings are simpler than hierarchy with irregular sub-structure. | |
| Oct 18, 2017 at 18:09 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackSoftEng/status/920713442058801164 | ||
| Oct 12, 2017 at 7:27 | review | Close votes | |||
| Oct 17, 2017 at 3:04 | |||||
| Oct 12, 2017 at 7:08 | history | protected | gnat | ||
| Oct 12, 2017 at 5:44 | answer | added | Ville Laitila | timeline score: 3 | |
| Nov 26, 2012 at 4:22 | vote | accept | dukeofgaming | ||
| Nov 26, 2012 at 4:19 | vote | accept | dukeofgaming | ||
| Nov 26, 2012 at 4:19 | |||||
| Nov 25, 2012 at 11:25 | comment | added | Ambroz Bizjak | Split as much as possible, but without breaking the integrity of files. Each file (or pair of header/source files) should always be a rounded whole, independent of the internal implementation of other files. If this means some files will be large because they implement something complex, so be it. | |
| Nov 25, 2012 at 11:17 | comment | added | mouviciel | Some compilers used to have weird limits on source code size: max line length or max number of lines. When compiler complains, this is an objective indicator that code is too big (or that it is time to upgrade). | |
| Nov 25, 2012 at 9:55 | answer | added | Giorgio | timeline score: 68 | |
| Nov 24, 2012 at 14:40 | review | Close votes | |||
| Nov 26, 2012 at 1:30 | |||||
| Nov 24, 2012 at 14:22 | comment | added | gnat | Your peer tells you after reviewing the code. "You cannot determine this yourself because you know more as the author than the code says by itself. A computer cannot tell you, for the same reasons that it cannot tell if a painting is art or not. Hence, you need another human - capable of maintaining the software - to look at what you have written and give his or her opinion..." | |
| Nov 24, 2012 at 2:10 | answer | added | ZJR | timeline score: 12 | |
| Nov 24, 2012 at 1:46 | answer | added | Martin Beckett | timeline score: 40 | |
| Nov 24, 2012 at 1:35 | history | asked | dukeofgaming | CC BY-SA 3.0 |