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performance of a group of small libraries versus a single big one java

I collecting up many of my older projects and random code fragments and organizing them in a codebase. I'm trying to figure out if smaller libraries would be more efficient than a large one.

The codebase will be used in Browser Applets, Desktop applications and Server applications. Many thanks.

Solution

  • As far as I know the Class Loader and Security Manager hit performance at LEAST once, the first time you load a certain class.
    The JVM loads ALL related classes (JARs, in the end) to memory at launch, if they're "linked" in an import.
    This is how "loading on demand" happens, if using reflection etc.

    But the bottom line I wanted to tell you is that if I were you, I'd break the code to as many pieces as possible.
    This will give much better maintainability in the long run and that particular point is extremely important in every software life cycle.

    Good luck!