5 ms·
That same line of thinking could be used to just put everything into a single huge file.
by i573323 11y ago
That same line of thinking could be used to just put everything into a single huge file.
- akkartik 11y agoI have to admit, I like long files. Arc's compiler is all in one file (https://github.com/arclanguage/anarki/blob/master/ac.scm https://github.com/arclanguage/anarki/blob/master/ac.scm) and it was a big influence on me. It was just so great to be able to have it open on one side while I wrote programs in Arc. You're right that there are points beyond which a single file becomes too unwieldy, but with a good editor that limit is quite high for me. Maybe 10k LoC. Directories can grow even larger before they start having problems.
- nickpsecurity 11y agoIt's not the same. I can open, process, or skim a directory containing a thousand files without much trouble or CPU activity. Having a thousand files worth of information in one file means I have to run through all that data at once. This has implications in data integrity as well if I'm making changes or worried about bitrot. So, no, there's a difference. I'll also note that Daniel Bernstein of qmail & NaCl often used a filesystem how some use databases under the philosophy of "Why create new, complex functionality when you have well-tested code that gets the job done?"