Re: code bloat [was Re: Semaphore assembly-code bug]
From: Tim Hockin
Date: Sat Oct 30 2004 - 18:32:47 EST
On Sun, Oct 31, 2004 at 02:13:37AM +0300, Denis Vlasenko wrote:
> > Bloat is cause by feature creep at every layer, not just the app.
>
> I actually tried to convince maintainers of one package
> that their code is needlessly complex. I did send patches
> to remedy that a bit while fixing real bugs. Rejected.
> Bugs were planned to be fixed by adding more code.
> I've lost all hope on that case.
See, there is an ego problem, too. If you rewrite my code, it means
you're better than I am. Rejected.
Features win over efficiency. Seriously, look at glibc. Hav eyou ever
tried to fix a bug in it? Holy CRAP is that horrible code. Each chunk of
code itself is OK (though it abuses macrso so thoroughly I hesitate to
call it C code). But it tried to support every architecture x every OS.
You know what? I don't CARE if the glibc code compiles on HPUX or not.
HPUX has it's own libc.
> I guess this is a reason why bloat problem tend to be solved
> by rewrite from scratch. I could name quite a few cases:
From-scratch is a huge risk. But yeah, sometimes it has to be.
> It's sort of frightening that someone will need to
> rewrite Xlib or, say, OpenOffice :(
Never gonna happen.
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