Comment by psychoslave

Funny this is the assertion in the I would most agree to use as general design principle to apply as thoroughly as possible, with tightened variable scope on equal position. Though no general principle should be followed blindly of course.

That's not the the function length per se. A function that is 1000 lines of mere basic assignments or holding a single giant switch can sometime be an apt option with careful consideration of tradeoffs as origin of the design. Number of line doesn't tell much of the function complexity and cognitive load of will imply to grasp what it does, though it can be a first proxy metric.

But most of the time giant functions found in the wild grow up organically with 5 levels of intertwined control control moving down and up, accumulating variables instead of const without consideration to scope span. In that case every time a change is needed, the cognitive load to grasp everything that need to be considered to change this finding is extremely huge. All the more as this giant function most likely won't have an test suit companion, because good engineering practices are more followed at equal level on several points.