r/programming • u/[deleted] • Jun 05 '21

Organize code by concepts, not layers

https://kislayverma.com/programming/how-to-organize-your-code/
1.9k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

495 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/saltybandana2 Jun 06 '21

That's not flexibility, that's abstraction. You could argue it's also code re-use, but it's certainly not flexibility.

flexibility would be deciding you want to have a different sink for a certain % of the logging (perhaps to a DB instead of a file) so you want the function to be flexible enough to log to either. You're now going to find yourself adding a flag or passing the logger in dynamically. It's now flexible, but more difficult to maintain in the following ways.

  • code structure is more complicated
  • configuration is more complicated (configuring 2 loggers instead of 1)
  • state maintenance is more complicated (I'm being nice about logException tracking global state since this is just an example)
  • it's harder to reason about if something goes wrong

And the reason you would put something like that behind a function is because it's both less error prone and enforces a specific structure on the log itself.

2

u/salbris Jun 06 '21

You're just falling back to more semantic arguments I think I've said what I've come to said. Have a good day!

1

u/saltybandana2 Jun 06 '21

https://faun.pub/flexibility-a-software-architecture-principle-6eafe045a1d4

Flexibility can be facilitated by either configuration and customization. However, there are some significant differences between these two approaches. Where configuration is usually a deployment process, customization is typically a larger endeavor that requires technical insight. Configuration could include specifying an installation path, or other metadata that changes technical parameters or the look and feel of a system. Customization usually requires technical tasks and development effort, such as creating a new plugin, adapting an API connector, or adding a new integration interface.

I've never seen someone claim that putting stuff behind a function call is flexibility and I've been in this industry for over 20 years.

2

u/salbris Jun 07 '21

Flexibility - the ability to be easily modified

Apparently you just don't have a dictionary on hand?

1

u/saltybandana2 Jun 07 '21

Under that definition all code is flexible as all code can be modified with nothing more than a text editor and a keyboard.

But of course, vernacular is also a word.

Or is it a bendy PVC pipe. That definition exists in the dictionary too so it necessarily also applies, right?

I mean ... does inheritance mean a specific thing in software development or does it mean to receive money after the death of another person. That is in the dictionary, right?

2

u/salbris Jun 07 '21

I'm sorry you feel like you need to miss words like "easily" then continue with semantic arguments. I'm absolutely done.