When require statements are scattered throughout your code, it becomes difficult to understand what dependencies a file needs at a
glance. This creates several problems:
First, it hurts readability. Other developers (including your future self) have to scan through the entire file to understand what libraries and
modules are being used. This makes code review and maintenance more time-consuming.
Second, it can lead to performance issues. Ruby’s require method loads and executes files, which takes time. When requires are placed
inside methods that might be called multiple times, you risk loading the same library repeatedly, even though Ruby’s require mechanism prevents
duplicate loading.
Third, it makes dependency management harder. Build tools, bundlers, and static analysis tools often look for require statements at the top of
files to understand project dependencies. Scattered requires can be missed by these tools.
Finally, it goes against Ruby community conventions. The Ruby style guide and most Ruby projects follow the practice of placing all requires at the
top of files, making your code inconsistent with established patterns.
What is the potential impact?
Scattered require statements reduce code maintainability and readability. They make it harder for developers to understand file dependencies, can
impact performance when requires are placed in frequently-called methods, and may cause issues with dependency analysis tools.
