Why is it a bad idea to write configuration data in code?

Question

Real-life case (from caff) to exemplify the short question subject:

$CONFIG{\'owner\'} = q{Peter Palfrader};
$CONFIG{\'email\'} = q{peter@palfrader.org};
$CO         


        

Answer 1

A reason I'm surprised no one mentioned yet is testing. When config is in the code you have to write crazy, contorted tests to be able to test safely. You can end up writing tests that duplicate the code they test which makes the tests nearly useless; mostly just testing themselves, likely to drift, and difficult to maintain.

Hand in hand with testing is deployment which was mentioned. When something is easy to test, it is going to be easy (well, easier) to deploy.