> I've never seen a terrible huge C codebase

I have 100% confidence they exist. They just don't get uploaded to Github out of shame or embarrasment.

Can confirm they do. I worked at a company that was producing control systems for electric engines. Great environment and fun job but the code was beyond redemption. 15k line files with 2k+ lines #ifdef statements that ran different code for different customers, some variable names were just curses against pushy clients, not a single abstraction in sight.

Not only they exist, they power massive machines that could crush a person in the blink of an eye.

I think OP just found a really well done C file.

You can definitely see many famous projects on GitHub, where even though the code is logical, you can't help feel it's a bit all over the place.

cpython isn't all sun and roses.

A broad generalization, but with C and C++ I'd say the standards for "good code" have dramatically risen in the last 10 years.

Variable names seem to have doubled in size.

> I've never seen a terrible huge C codebase

libssl/openssl (before the rewrite/fixes especially)? Maybe doesn't qualify as huge?

See eg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnBbhXBDmwU "LibreSSL with Bob Beck" (the first 30 days)

Proprietary device drivers come to mind..

They don't tend to be huge && in C

AMD's linux graphics driver has entered the chat