Australian Technology

LibreOffice’s massive method removal

Takeaway: If you think your code base is massive, spare a thought for LibreOffice, as the project has only recently managed to remove half of the known unused methods in its code base.

Earlier in the week Novell developer and LibreOffice contributor, Michael Meeks, posted the following graph on his blog.


(Credit: Michael Meeks)

“It seems that over half of our unused code has now bitten the dust. Unfortunately, as we remove more, more wastage tends to be revealed, which explains some of the upward jumps in the graph, nevertheless the trend is clearly down,” wrote Meeks.

LibreOffice uses a tool called callcatcher that identifies the unused methods.

Next time a complex code base is giving you pain, if it doesn’t have over 5000 unused methods, then you are in a better position than the LibreOffice folk were when they started.

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Chris Duckett

About Chris Duckett

Programmer and journalist Chris Duckett is the Editor for TechRepublic Australia.

Chris Duckett

Chris Duckett
Chris started his journalistic adventure in 2006 as the Editor of Builder AU after originally joining the company as a programmer. He left CBS Interactive in 2010 to follow his deep desire to study the snowdrifts and culinary delights of Canada and returned to CBS in 2011 as the Editor of TechRepublic Australia, determined to meld together his programming and journalistic tendencies once and for all.
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