On Constants

I am weird, I read source code, just to learn. Apache, Java Swing, Clean, Haskell, gcc, ogre 3d, irrlicht, ml light, Tinyhttpd, various lisps, smv, Mozilla javascript, Helium, gtk, HOL light, ...

Invariably, with the exception of 1%, I'll find a mess. It is just a fact, people can't program, or programming is too hard.

I read the Python source to see how they handle dynamical loading of shared libraries. I wasn't sure I actually needed a cache for the handles.

Surprisingly, an array of 128 handles are allocated. I am a conservative programmer, I grow the area of handles when needed.

But thinking of it: Who's right? Python will crash when more than 128 libraries are loaded; but that will not happen very fast. My code will handle a lot of libraries; but if my code is abused, it is not thread-save, or contains a bug, it will silently keep growing and keep using memory.

There is a point in coding with hard constants.