Are global variables bad? [closed]

Answer 1

In the end of the day, your program or app can still work but its a matter of being tidy and having a complete understanding of whats going on. If you share a variable value among all functions, it may become difficult to trace what function is changing the value(if the function does so) and makes debugging a million times harder

Answer 2

In a multi-threaded application, use local variables in place of global variables to avoid a race condition.

A race condition occurs when multiple thread access a shared resource, with at least one thread having a write access to the data. Then, the result of the program is not predictable, and depends on the order of accesses to the data by different threads.

More on this here, https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/use-intel-parallel-inspector-to-find-race-conditions-in-openmp-based-multithreaded-code

Answer 3

If it's possible your code will end up under intensive review during a Supreme Court trial, then you want to make sure to avoid global variables.

See this article: Buggy breathalyzer code reflects importance of source review

There were some problems with the style of the code that were identified by both studies. One of the stylistic issues that concerned the reviewers was the extensive use of unprotected global variables. This is considered poor form because it increases the risk that the program state will become inconsistent or that values will be inadvertently modified or overwritten. The researchers also expressed some concern about the fact that decimal precision is not maintained consistently throughout the code.

Man, I bet those developers are wishing they hadn't used global variables!

Answer 4

The important thing is to remember the overall goal: clarity

The "no global variables" rule is there because most of the time, global variables make the meaning of code less clear.

However, like many rules, people remember the rule, and not what the rule was intended to do.

I've seen programs that seem to double the size of the code by passing an enormous number of parameters around simply to avoid the evil of global variables. In the end, using globals would have made the program clearer to those reading it. By mindlessly adhering to the word of the rule, the original programmer had failed the intent of the rule.

So, yes, globals are often bad. But if you feel that in the end, the intent of the programmer is made clearer by the use of global variables, then go ahead. However, remember the drop in clarity that automatically ensues when you force someone to access a second piece of code (the globals) to understand how the first piece works.

Answer 5

The problem with global variables is that since every function has access to these, it becomes increasingly hard to figure out which functions actually read and write these variables.

To understand how the application works, you pretty much have to take into account every function which modifies the global state. That can be done, but as the application grows it will get harder to the point of being virtually impossible (or at least a complete waste of time).

If you don't rely on global variables, you can pass state around between different functions as needed. That way you stand a much better chance of understanding what each function does, as you don't need to take the global state into account.

Answer 6

I would like to argue against the point being made throughout this thread that it makes multi-threading harder or impossible per se. Global variables are shared state, but the alternatives to globals (e. g. passing pointers around) might also share state. The problem with multi-threading is how to properly use shared state, not whether that state happens to be shared through a global variable or something else.

Most of the time when you do multi-threading you need to share something. In a producer-consumer pattern for example, you might share some thread-safe queue that contains the work units. And you are allowed to share it because that data structure is thread-safe. Whether that queue is global or not is completely irrelevant when it comes to thread-safety.

The implied hope expressed throughout this thread that transforming a program from single-threaded to multi-threaded will be easier when not using globals is naive. Yes, globals make it easier to shoot yourself in the foot, but there's a lot of ways to shoot yourself.

I'm not advocating globals, as the other points still stand, my point is merely that the number of threads in a program has nothing to do with variable scope.