Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!doug-merritt
From: doug-merritt@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Speed of linking
Message-ID: <5543@cup.portal.com>
Date: 17 May 88 18:18:32 GMT
References: <8805132300.AA26431@cory.Berkeley.EDU> <28161@cca.CCA.COM>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 49
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.4407

Matt Dillon wrote:
>> [...]  Another fix would be to change your programming
>>habits... 40 modules for only a 130K load module????

Jack Orenstein replied:
>I like my habits. Did Picasso listen when they said "too much blue"?

Although to some extent this is a matter of personal preference,
I can't see suggesting to people that they change to a "monolithic"
programming habit.

We all know that Modularity Is A Good Thing, right? Consider that in
C, the scoping of variables is limited to one of: 1) global, 2) functions,
or 3) to files. We also know that global variables are The Root Of All Evil
(ok, so I use 'em sometimes...). Let's assume that everyone uses
information hiding principles in functions when possible to avoid those
Evil Global Variables, so we're in good shape with variables that are
local to functions.

That leaves function and variable names that must be shared between
several functions, but aren't shared universally. The Good True And Right
way to treat these in C is to bundle them up into a file, and make all
functions and "global" variables in that file static to hide their names
from Evil Wrongdoers In Other Modules, and leave just a minimal amount
of interface namespace global.

In other words, other things being equal, someone with lots of little C
files is probably doing a better job of implementing structured programming
information hiding principles than someone who has a small number of
huge C files (present company excepted, of course :-).

We don't know for *sure* that Jack is one of the Good Guys In White, but
he's innocent until proven guilty. And you certainly don't want to ask
him to put on a black hat! Jack, by all means, *please* stick with
your current habits! We could do worse than to create a new (or several
new) libraries for each of our large projects.

Matt, I'm only criticizing your suggestion to Jack, not your actual
programming style...From some of your designs I remember seeing, it's
clear that you're a good programmer. And your software's functionality
is marvelous anyway; I just figure someone's gotta throw in the obligatory
comments about modern programming methodologies. Creating large modules
is a sin that some of us (like me) commit sometimes, but we shouldn't
advocate it.
	Doug
---
      Doug Merritt        ucbvax!sun.com!cup.portal.com!doug-merritt
                      or  ucbvax!eris!doug (doug@eris.berkeley.edu)
                      or  ucbvax!unisoft!certes!doug