4 ms·

Yes, it's arbitrary and there are of course exceptions and perhaps domains where it may not apply at all. It's just a recurring observation that I've made (most

by moe 14y ago

Yes, it's arbitrary and there are of course exceptions and perhaps domains where it may not apply at all. It's just a recurring observation that I've made (mostly but not only) in dynamic languages. Pretty much all good code that I've read or written was compartmentalized into units of roughly 500 LOC. A big program may be composed of many such units, but it was almost always a bad sign when a divisible part would exceed the "magic" number. What comprises a divisible part of course also varies by language; at the least it'd be the LOC-per-file, but usually it'd be a self-contained and separately tested module. In a moment someone will probably come up with a great piece of software where this doesn't hold true, I'd actually be curious to see it.

rat87 14y ago
And a program is usually made of many units so is much larger then 500 LOC
Shorel 14y ago
So, you actually mean functions instead of programs?
- moe 14y ago
  No. I mean an isolated unit that could be ripped out at any time and would be immediately useful on its own. Anyway, abecedarius (below) has phrased it better than I could.
  - Shorel 14y ago
    Those 'isolated units' are commonly called libraries then.
    - moe 14y ago
      No. They are called "module".
      - Shorel 14y ago
        Yes, I agree with that name, libraries usually start as modules and some extra work is required to convert a module to a library. Also, a library can be thought of as a collection of modules.