Executable file-size and user-created Modules/Classes

Getting Started
1

I have a personal module named Rad, where I put my own methods inside it.

How does the compiled executable’s file-size varies for each of the following scenarios?

  • Rad is imported into the project, and none of the methods are used.
  • Rad is imported into the project, and 1 or 2 (or anything except all) of the methods are used.
  • Rad is imported into the project, and ALL of the methods are used.

And what difference does it make (regarding file-size and dependencies or anything that I would not yet know)
if Rad is a regular module, or an external module.

2

Rad is entirely stripped out as long as you use NOTHING from Rad

Rad is retained - code is not stripped at the method level

[quote=166971:@Radium Radiovich]
And what difference does it make (regarding file-size and dependencies or anything that I would not yet know)
if Rad is a regular module, or an external module.[/quote]
none - internal external is an IDE notion
The code has to be compiled into the resulting exe to be used

3

So, if Rad contains a large amount of methods (say 20k) and only 100 of them are used in a project, all of the 20k methods are compiled and included into the exe?
How much difference in file-size does that make? is it considerable?
And can an IDE Script be implemented to outcast the unused methods prior to build?

Another Scenario:
Rad is a class/module, which contains 20k methods in total, divided between lots of subclasses.
Does Xojo strip the code at the class level to leave unused subclasses out?

4

[quote=166990:@Radium Radiovich]So, if Rad contains a large amount of methods (say 20k) and only 100 of them are used in a project, all of the 20k methods are compiled and included into the exe?
How much difference in file-size does that make? is it considerable?
[/quote]
Thats going to vary based on your code
If there’s only a handful of methods not much
If there are thousands it could be quite a bit.

You’d have a hard time identifying the used vs unused members

[quote=166990:@Radium Radiovich]
Rad is a class/module, which contains 20k methods in total, divided between lots of subclasses.
Does Xojo strip the code at the class level to leave unused subclasses out?[/quote]
Yes - unused classes are stripped

5

So the best candidate is dividing the methods between lots of subclasses, and thus as a result, although not completely, strip out most of the unused classes.

Another question popped in my head:
Does the IDE support modules/classes that contain 20k or more of items?

6

You really have to ask yourself why you would do something like that. 20K of anything will become horribly unwieldy. Organize it into smaller packages.