Questions tagged [globals]

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Does turn "global state" into "passing parameter" increase the whole system coupling or not?

As far as I know, coupling is about counting number of other classes in a class, so for the following program that emulates a UI program that shows "WelcomePage" at start and also pops a ...
wcminipgasker2023's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
726 views

Why blaming "global state", instead of my user requirements, makes program state unpredictable?

According to Why is Global State so Evil?, I know I should not allow the existence of global state, one of the reasons is so called "it makes program state unpredictable". However, I'm not ...
wcminipgasker2023's user avatar
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0 answers
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Storing SVG settings in a global variable to retain its contents during resize - acceptable?

In the solution I've been asked to maintain (Meteor based app), there are several responsive SVG charts. When the page is loaded, settings for each chart are stored using the following: <input ...
Tania's user avatar
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22 votes
5 answers
4k views

Should I use a global logging variable?

Over and over again we're told, "globals are bad" and with good reason. However, I'm working with a logger that needs to be accessible everywhere in the program. Why shouldn't I create a ...
StaticMethod's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
490 views

Passing arrays as global variables instead of pointers in C

I'm required to write the Low-Level Requirements of a Software Component which shall perform signal processing over arrays of 200k elements of integers/floats which lives in the main memory of the ...
Sam's user avatar
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0 votes
3 answers
330 views

Why is Dependency Injection called "alternative of global state"?I think global state still exists

According to Why is Global State so Evil?, I believe we should avoid global state, so suppose I have an App that count user clicks in all pages like it: public class GlobalState{ public int ...
wcminipgasker2023's user avatar
12 votes
4 answers
3k views

How to initialize the same global resources from multiple modules independently?

I encountered the following situation: I have two modules, TokenService and Wifi which are initialized from main(). The modules themselves don't know of the existence of each other and function ...
glades's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
331 views

How to implement a counter without global state?

I have read many blogs and stack exchange posts about global state (usually) being bad practice. I'm now trying to avoid this where possible in my code, but I'm running into a case where I don't know ...
PieterV's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
212 views

Using class attributes as globals in Python - is there a catch?

I have found myself in the habit of using code like this. class glb: "just for holding globals" args = None # from argparse conf = None # from configparser def main(): ......
Alias_Knagg's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
250 views

How to handle root paths in a custom package?

I am writing a custom python package, which produces some files in a certain directory. This directory I call root_path and should be set by the user. So basically, it should be a conf variable but ...
Corram's user avatar
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1 answer
207 views

Plugin system design core component access: Common practice?

I wonder how to design a good plugin architecture in C++/Qt. The main concern I have is about dependency injection vs globals when it comes to the core components. Plugins should have access to ...
ManuelSchneid3r's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
836 views

What are the best practices to follow when using global variables when you must use them?

What are the best practices when using global variables? Normally, the common answer to this is to avoid using global variables and use local variables, properties and arguments to pass data around. ...
Chris's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
909 views

How state stores are different from "global variables"?

Context: I am developing an amateur web application (with Vue.js), made up of components, and when reading about state management, the recommended solution is to use a store that gets updated by the ...
WoJ's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
2k views

When should I use a global variable module in Python?

In Python projects, if your project spans multiple Python modules and you need to pass some data between the modules, as far as I know, there's 2 main ways: Pass the data as function arguments Create ...
John's user avatar
  • 111
-1 votes
4 answers
814 views

Is using member variables as bad as using globals?

Is this an acceptable use of member variables: One method sets the variables so that another method can use them. Would it be better to return the value in a list or tuple from func1? If I don't do ...
Lightsout's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Storing global variables in a database

I have several global variables that I need to store in a database. These variables rarely change, but when they do, all installed instances of the application must updated to those changes, which is ...
PleaseEditUsername's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
347 views

Use of globals in stack-based virtual machine implementation

I'm implementing a stack-based virtual machine in C. The following variables are used by pretty much every function: memory array various pointers to memory offsets program counter stack stack ...
retrodev's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
413 views

How should a "global" resource be handled in Java?

It's a pretty simple question really, how should one properly declare and use a global resource without violating Java's OOP principles? When I'm writing in C, I would declare a struct in global space....
Skeith's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
175 views

Better way than repeatedly passing the same parameters?

I have some methods in my code that essentially hide/show some Views, like showTitleHideBody(), showBodyHideTitle(), etc. They just change their Views' (tvTitle, tvBody) visibility. Initially those ...
did_attics's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why is global state not considered as an example of dependency injection?

According to Why is Global State so Evil?, as I understand, global state is bad and I should use dependency injection instead. That means, for example, a mobile app that use bundles of app level data ...
aacceeggiikk's user avatar
-4 votes
1 answer
977 views

How to refactor Global variables?

I found this previous question that addresses the issue. The question is: How do I deal with global variables in existing legacy code (or, what's better, global hell or pattern hell)? My question ...
T. A. Pfaff's user avatar
0 votes
4 answers
666 views

How to avoid global mutable variables within a class?

I know the fact that global mutable variables are bad as they can be accidentally modified and make testing difficult. However, there are situations when a class needs to cache some information, for e....
Navjot Singh's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
316 views

Global variables and common block management in Fortran

Background The high level overview of my situation is described here. I am breaking it apart into smaller, specific questions, such as this one, regarding extensive use of global variables in a ...
ximiki's user avatar
  • 345
2 votes
2 answers
225 views

Is registry pattern a valid use of global state?

For example, I want to convert json from server to generic object: Shape, as follow: { "type":"Circle", "radius":"3", }, { "type":"Rectangle", "width":"5", "height":"6", }, using ...
aacceeggiikk's user avatar
6 votes
5 answers
1k views

Are "open-closed principle" and "less coupling" rationales to use global state?

Consider I'm writing a mobile app with user-login feature, using a framework which can be simplified like that: class UserData{ static token=""; static name=""; static balance=0; } class ...
aacceeggiikk's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
315 views

Is this design with globals bad?

I designed a Snakes and Ladders game. I divided into a reasonable amount of classes and I believe I did a good job regarding the OOP design. I have one question about a decision I made for the design,...
laegirl's user avatar
  • 31
0 votes
2 answers
515 views

Is the global state believed to be evil because of its nature or mostly due to its usual, no-rules usage?

I don't dislike global state, but that could be due to the lack of experience. I was thinking about what the usual implementation of global state is: A big variable where data flows in a non-...
coolpasta's user avatar
  • 641
1 vote
1 answer
158 views

Are "I'm writing android applications" and "follow open-closed principles" reasons to allow global state?

For example, suppose I have an android application, in simple, there are 3 activities : MainActivity -> Main2Activity -> Main3Activity ,which user can visit them in sequence (eg: by button ...
ocomfd's user avatar
  • 5,712
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

OpenGL and global state

It is generally understood in software engineering that global state is bad. However, OpenGL has been designed very much embracing the concept of global state. many of the things you modify will ...
Makogan's user avatar
  • 261
5 votes
1 answer
375 views

Is private global mutable state ever appropriate, namely when used to prevent API misuse?

I am writing a type checker for an ML dialect that involves generating "fresh" (new and unique) "type variables" (values representing unknowns). My strategy, and the strategy that seems to be used in ...
Del's user avatar
  • 161
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

How can I avoid using global variables in simple Javascript SPA?

To learn Javascript I am building a simple Single-Page Application. It is a basic slideshow app that needs only to process some basic settings and execute some behaviors. The basic structure of my ...
sddaa's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
879 views

I'm moving away from using global variables after 7 years, I need help figuring out the basics

Until recently I was a huge fan of global variables because they are simple and allow building solutions to problems quickly. At one point I had to make a slight change to my application: it needed ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 141
0 votes
1 answer
360 views

How to avoid Global State with a world map?

This is a conceptual problem I'm having general difficulty with, and I'd like to look at an example that can hopefully help clarify this: using a map to represent an alterable game world. For ...
Aze's user avatar
  • 101
4 votes
1 answer
550 views

Are externs (global variables) ever justifiable?

Under which circumstances would you deem it justifiable to use externs (i.e. global variables)? For example, in a system with 1 given state at a time, would it be appropriate to store this state in ...
Edward's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
358 views

How to best pass along global configurations such as login data?

I have a code base consisting of multiple scripts and many functions. Everything is controlled from one master script (master.txt, let's say). I have a lot of "global" configuration files, for ...
Alexander Engelhardt's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
104 views

Efficiently computing and storing global state

I am working on a graph problem which is special in the sense that the nodes are computed only when required. This is because the graph is so huge that the entire graph won't fit in memory. So, in my ...
Abhilash's user avatar
  • 111
2 votes
3 answers
2k views

How do Stack Machine store global vars?

How exactly do stack machines (both real and virtual stack machines) store global variables? I know that C(++) just compile it to the .data segment of a program's memory segmentation. Then there's ...
Nergal's user avatar
  • 313
0 votes
1 answer
123 views

Is there a better way than StringHelper?

I want to have functions that convert numeric values into strings in English words, to pluralize nouns, to inflect, break by words and so on. I will use these throughout a big project. Normally I ...
Gherman's user avatar
  • 945
1 vote
3 answers
574 views

Is "pass objects instead of required variables only" contradict with "avoid global variables"?

As I know, on one hand, the main stream opinion about global variable is, it is eval because it may make the program unpredictable : some unknown class or functions can change the value of the global ...
ggrr's user avatar
  • 5,765
2 votes
2 answers
148 views

Method manipulates global variables, mark const?

I wrote a class ShaderWrapper in C++, that wraps around OpenGL shaders. In the constructor I generate the actually OpenGL shader object, but this method only returns me a handle/id of type int. The ...
Jakube's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
2k views

Are we overlooking bad effects of global state in this design?

I’ve read the answers to Why is Global State so Evil?, and I think the negative consequences do not apply in this situation. However, that’s what everyone says just before they get hit by a falling ...
Jonas Schäfer's user avatar
53 votes
15 answers
35k views

Clean Code: Functions with few parameters [closed]

I read the first chapters of Clean Code by Robert C. Martin, and it seems to me it's pretty good, but I have a doubt, in one part it is mentioned that it is good (cognitively) that the functions ...
OiciTrap's user avatar
  • 729
15 votes
2 answers
18k views

Parametrize methods vs global variables

I have a very simple question that has been haunting me for a while when my code starts growing. Should parameters be replaced by global variables when they go through long routes of nested function ...
AFP_555's user avatar
  • 359
0 votes
0 answers
1k views

Best practices for configuration files in global (or globally required) variables

A common pattern I use on my nontrivial programs is to have a class that parses out a config file (usually YAML), and makes the items in the values in the config available as properties on the class. ...
Mikey T.K.'s user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
521 views

Is global state evil if it doesn't change behavior?

I have a library in C where the API uses "objects" to interact with the application. These "objects" are opaque pointers that are created, destroyed, and modified via API calls. These "objects" do ...
user112513312's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

How do you handle time unit constants (second, minute, etc)?

I've been writing a lot of time related code recently, and in various files, I always end up re-defining things like var SECOND = 1000; var MINUTE = 60 * SECOND; This gets frustrating quickly. So I'...
Merlin -they-them-'s user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
374 views

Avoiding global variables by using persistent variables in MATLAB

Disclaimer: Although I mention my use in matlab I think this is is more of a programming pattern question so I put it here. If I am incorrect I will be happy to go over to stackoverflow. I have a ...
rick_2047's user avatar
238 votes
10 answers
35k views

Is there a name for the (anti- ) pattern of passing parameters that will only be used several levels deep in the call chain?

I was trying to find alternatives to the use of global variable in some legacy code. But this question is not about the technical alternatives, I'm mainly concerned about the terminology. The ...
RubenLaguna's user avatar
  • 1,882
-2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Global variable or parameter?

Is it correct that homeitem should be declared inside the OnLoad method and overgiven to all the render methods instead of just declaring it as a global variable and accessing it by all the render ...
Awusuwah's user avatar
  • 111
264 votes
22 answers
18k views

How are globals any different from a database?

I just ran across this old question asking what's so evil about global state, and the top-voted, accepted answer asserts that you can't trust any code that works with global variables, because some ...
Mason Wheeler's user avatar