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How Long Should a Function Be? (And Why It’s the Wrong Question to Ask)
(adamtornhill.substack.com)
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2026
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Programming
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@argv_minus_one @codeinabox
This is utter nonsense, except you proof with serious performance measurements that
- the extra function is slower
- this actually matters
@HaraldKi
I am admittedly a bit…emotional about not wasting memory. Growing up on a 486 with 4MB of RAM does that to you, I guess.
The extra function will only be slower if the compiler/interpreter doesn't inline it, which most compilers/interpreters including JavaScript will, so it's mostly just a memory-usage issue. But I have used rather simple interpreters that *don't* inline functions, and one of them even came with a warning that function calls are slow!
@codeinabox
@argv_minus_one @codeinabox
Well, well, with JavaScript I think browser snd bloated web sites, where a good hand crafted extra function is the smallest if our problems.🤣