On 13Jun2018 13:35, Chris Angelico <ros...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 1:23 PM, Rick Johnson
<rantingrickjohn...@gmail.com> wrote:
Bill Deegan wrote:
I'm doing some refactoring on a fairly large python
codebase. Some of the files are > 4000 lines long and
contain many classes.
I would argue that files of such size are a total pain to
navigate and thus, edit. I prefer to place only one -- or
only a handful of classes -- in each file. One class per
file is _most_ preferred. But if you have a small group of
classes that are closely dependent on one another, and, the
source definitions can fit comfortably in a single file,
well then, i say do it. You just have to decide what is
comfortable for _you_; your coworkers; and anyone who may be
forced to maintain your code in the future.
A few thousand lines in a file is only a problem if you're using an
editor that lacks a Find feature. Or if you use bad function/class
names that you can't search for.
I was going to say something along these lines, but to some extent this feels
like an unfair finger pointing exercise. Huge files can be a PITA; having
something that aids moving around them reduces the pain, but doesn't remove the
fact that sometimes something is too big.
The flip side is that editor support is amazingly important, or amazingly
useful.
I'm a long time vi user, and its tags feature is outstandingly useful (go to
identifier, type ctlr-[, you're transported to the file and line defining it,
with luck). I recently spent some time updating my support for this, getting
ctags to run whenever I save a file, with good context for what to tag and
not).
Recently part of that movitation came from spending a year as a software
engineer in a fast moving agile environment, and seeing first hand just how
much an advantage good tooling can be. Editor support. Multiple panes,
autoformat on save, vim extensions for finding files (big codebase, many many
files in a deep tree).
Tools matter, it turns out.
"""However, know when to be inconsistent -- sometimes style guide
recommendations just aren't applicable."""
I may exaggerate on this a bit more if you're interested.
Isn't it normal for you to exaggerate everything?
Shhh! Don't discourage his restraint!
Cheers,
Cameron Simpson <c...@cskk.id.au>
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