[Python-Dev] Re: Adding Optik to the standard library

[Greg Ward]

On 01 June 2002, Guido van Rossum said:
> Hm, that's not how I tend to hack on things (except when working with
> others who like that style).  Why do you find hacking on several
> (many?) small files easier for you than on a single large file?

Actually, Optik started out in one file; I split it up somewhere around
600 or 700 lines of code expecting it to grow more.  It only grew to
around 1100 lines, which I suppose is a good thing.  I think having
small modules makes me more comfortable about adding code -- I don't
feel at all hemmed-in adding 50 lines to a 300-line module, but adding
50 lines to an 800-line module makes me nervous.

I think it all boils down to having things in easily-digested chunks,
rather than concerns about stressing Emacs out.

(OTOH and wildly OT: since I gave in a couple years ago and started
using Emacs syntax-colouring, it *does* take a lot longer to load
modules up -- eg. ~2 sec for the 1000-line rfc822.py.  But that's
probably just because Emacs is a great shaggy beast of an editor
("Eight(y) Megs and Constantly Swapping", "Eventually Mallocs All Core
Storage", you know...).  I'm sure if I got a brain transplant so that I
could use vim, it would be different.)

        Greg
-- 
Greg Ward - programmer-at-big                           gward@python.net
http://starship.python.net/~gward/
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