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    Please. Use. Paragraphs. And. Indentation. Commented Jul 16, 2024 at 12:38
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    The question is super interesting but also seems to have a flaw: It contains a direction of the solution, config files or multiple codebases. But in reality there are many other solutions like tenancy, configuration in data, custom modules (think SalesForce APEX), plugins (think Wordpress Plugins), etcetera. The focus on empirical evidence is important but a first overview of all options as well. A huge if else setup generally will become a mess of complexity but when you get a clear sight on which parts need to be custom implemented a lot is possible. Commented Jul 17, 2024 at 5:40
  • "Of course, it would be much easier for the programmer to have the individual creating the configuration file enter the three numbers for RGB!" -- I strongly disagree. It would be much easier for the programmer to just write the code themselves, because then they retain full control over it. One of the most sure-fire ways to make programmers' lives hell is to remove their ability to control aspects of the system's behaviour; removing build-time checks, static code analysis, automated tests, etc. The hardest code to maintain is code which a programmer cannot control themselves. Commented Jul 17, 2024 at 7:59
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    Useful related thread: What is "premature abstraction"? Commented Jul 17, 2024 at 8:11
  • The formality of asking for empirical evidence contrast with a question that (a) asks if copy/pasting long chains of ifs is justifiable, which is trivially answerable by plenty of development guidelines, (b) blindly assumes that the two presented options are the only possible choices and (c) seems to fail to understand that the field of software engineering is not driven by peer-reviewed control studies as codebases are predominantly a privately owned copyright, where the issue is not with algorithmic perfection but one of finding the approach that best mirrors the workplace's structure. Commented Jul 18, 2024 at 4:53