Why remove unused using directives in C#?

Question

I\'m wondering if there are any reasons (apart from tidying up source code) why developers use the \"Remove Unused Usings\" feature in Visual Studio 2008?

Answer 1

I would say quite the contrary - it's extremely helpful to remove unneeded, unnecessary using statements.

Imagine you have to go back to your code in 3, 6, 9 months - or someone else has to take over your code and maintain it.

If you have a huge long laundry list of using statement that aren't really needed, looking at the code could be quite confusing. Why is that using in there, if nothing is used from that namespace??

I guess in terms of long-term maintainability in a professional environment, I'd strongly suggest to keep your code as clean as possible - and that includes dumping unnecessary stuff from it. Less clutter equals less confusion and thus higher maintainability.

Marc