Code to big error

Question

I am writing a program and I receive a "code to large" error. What does this mean? My code for the program is only 20,000 lines I have other programs that are larger and before this I have never seen this error. It is only in one portion of my program in a class that extends a JPanel. When I eliminate the code I just added and add more code in another portion of the program I do not receive this error. Is there a code length maximum that is only allowed in one class and if there is how can I extend that length to a desired length. I am sure people write some extensive programs in Java and I find it hard to believe I have already reached a code to big error only after 20,000 lines of code. If there is anybody who can help me out that would be great. I need to add a section of code to my program to make it work but I can not due to the preceding error message.

Answer 1

There are no hard and fast rules for the max size
your file should reach. It depends a lot on what it's
doing, how much you comment, etc.Not that it matters much, but there are some hard limits on the size of a .class
file; I ripped this from the VM spec:4.1 The ClassFile Structure
A class file consists of a single ClassFile structure:
    ClassFile {
         u4 magic;
         u2 minor_version;
         u2 major_version;
         u2 constant_pool_count;
         cp_info constant_pool[constant_pool_count-1];
         u2 access_flags;
         u2 this_class;
         u2 super_class;
         u2 interfaces_count;
         u2 interfaces[interfaces_count];
         u2 fields_count;
         field_info fields[fields_count];
         u2 methods_count;
         method_info methods[methods_count];
         u2 attributes_count;
         attribute_info attributes[attributes_count];
    }As you can see, no more than 64K different constants are allowed, no more than
64K implemented interfaces, no more than 64K fields and no more than 64K
methods per class. But even with 20,000 lines of code shudder, you won't
meet this limits ;-)
kind regards,
Jos