Over the last decade I've done a lot of work on the python wrappers. The wrapper-generator code in "vtkPython.c" grew from 760 lines of code mid-way through my PhD, to 5300 lines of code last month. And a lot of that code was within a single, massive function. That was the function that generated a python "wrapper" function for each method in the C++ class being wrapped. Now, my guideline is that a comfortable file length is 1000 lines, and anything over 1500 is too long.

So I split off three files: one for Python-to-C++ data conversion functions, one for reusable code-generation functions, and one for reusable text/help processing. And the main file, still 3700 lines long, was reorganized into many smallish subroutines with clear inputs and outputs. But the most important thing is that the generated code, i.e. the C++ code that this code writes out, is much cleaner and more compact than before. No goto statements or complex error handling logic, just a simple flow from beginning to end. And it is 25% faster than before.

This was the last time that I'll have to hold the whole file in my head at once, so to speak. Now it is possible to understand the program one subroutine at a time, and I won't have to do a major study of the code every time that I want to add a couple new features. Which is good, because I have many features left to add, but I'll have to do them in bits and snatches when I find the time.