On Fri, 16 Apr 2004, Nathan Hurst wrote:
[snip]
I'd just like to point out that the reason the number of lines is decreasing is due to me removing dead code and replacing all the various Point, Matrix and Rect forms with a single unified set in preparation for fred and my new Path datatype. I have nearly removed all dependance on libart, and am working towards removing libnr and libnrtype, to be replaced with livarot and pango. Our code has become a big ball of string and we would be foolish to continue wrapping more bits of twine on if we want inkscape to remain managable.
People always get excited about new code additions, but I think we should be looking at code removal a little more in this release :)
I must voice my support for Nathan on this point. My early experiences with the Inkscape code base were nearly enough to put me off completely, such was apparent amount of cruft that it contains. IMHO more concise code benefits everyone in lots of subtle ways. I'm sure at this early stage in the development cycle we can encourage cleanups in just the same way that we encourage new features.
Cheers
Carl