E11066: constants should be consolidated into a single file

What went wrong

Constants are scattered across 3 or more source files within the same module. This fragmentation makes it difficult for developers to discover what constants a module provides and leads to inconsistent naming across files.

Worked examples

Compilable examples demonstrating this error and the correct fix:

• ek9 -q 863 (Why must module constants be in a single file?)

Rationale

• Constants define a module's shared vocabulary of fixed values
• Scattering them across files forces developers to search multiple locations
• A single constants file provides one authoritative location for all fixed values
• Consolidation reveals naming inconsistencies and duplicate near-values
• Threshold: 3+ files with constants (2 files allows main + constants pattern)

How to fix it

Gather the module's constants into one dedicated file, leaving every other construct where it is.

With tooling, ek9_organize_constants does the whole move in one step: name the target file and it is created for you if it does not yet exist.

By hand:

1. Create a constants file for the module (e.g. moduleConstants.ek9)
2. Move every constant into its single `defines constant` block
3. Review the names now they are visible together
4. Leave functions, classes and records in their original files

Common causes

• Constants added ad-hoc to whichever file was being edited at the time
• Multiple developers independently creating constants in different files
• Splitting code by feature without centralising the module's vocabulary

See also

• E11067: too many constants across files (related threshold check)
• E11014: low cohesion (related structural quality metric)

Examples

Every example is compiled by the EK9 compiler: the first fails exactly as captioned, the others fix it.

Fails with E11066: constants should be consolidated into a single file

bad/constants1.ek9

#!ek9
defines module error.e11066.bad

  defines constant
    MAX_RETRIES <- 3
    DEFAULT_TIMEOUT <- 30

bad/constants2.ek9

#!ek9
defines module error.e11066.bad

  defines constant
    BASE_URL <- "https://example.com"
    API_VERSION <- 2

bad/constants3.ek9

#!ek9
defines module error.e11066.bad

  defines constant
    LOG_LEVEL <- "DEBUG"
    MAX_CONNECTIONS <- 100

Fixed: One dedicated constants file; the other files of the module use them by name

good/constants.ek9

#!ek9
defines module error.e11066.good

  defines constant
    MAX_RETRIES <- 3
    DEFAULT_TIMEOUT <- 30
    BASE_URL <- "https://example.com"
    API_VERSION <- 2
    LOG_LEVEL <- "DEBUG"
    MAX_CONNECTIONS <- 100

good/client.ek9

#!ek9
defines module error.e11066.good

  defines function

    endpoint() as pure
      -> resource as String
      <- url as String: `${BASE_URL}/v${API_VERSION}/${resource}`

    connectionBudget() as pure
      <- description as String: `${MAX_CONNECTIONS} connections, ${DEFAULT_TIMEOUT}s timeout, ${MAX_RETRIES} retries`

good/logging.ek9

#!ek9
defines module error.e11066.good

  defines function

    logLine() as pure
      -> message as String
      <- line as String: `[${LOG_LEVEL}] ${message}`