Circular dependencies / Tangles between modules

As we introduced the top/primitive components via https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-jupyter/issues/8976 and moved the moduels/helpers to their logical folders, we had circular dependencies between the top components. Below is a simplified version of component dependnecies generated by Structure101

We want to gradually remove the dependencies in wrong directions, including

• No dependencies on notebooks/iw/webview in platform
• No dependencies on iw in notebooks
• Move feature code/helpers from telemetry to feature components. notebooks/iw/webview depends on telemetry but not the other way around
• …

With above items tackled we could end up with an ideal architecture like below (we still need to revisit if it fits)

[rebornix]

[rebornix]

Does it matter how the internal code of the individual components reference each other?

My short answer is not always. The tangles from structure101 can be used as indicators for how decoupled a component is and can be used as one approach to improve the code. There are good discussions in VS Code https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/140874 about if/why/how of using structure101 to analyze and improve VS Code’s code base.

I didn’t think they are not components in their own right, hence I do’nt think they are governed by the same rules.

I agree and I don’t think we should enforce any layering concepts inside top components. 0 tangle is also not what we would try to archive. The goal IMHO should be better readability.

Based on my experience of the last two weeks, the tangles shown by structure101 (or a super-restrict eslint rule) helped find code that are placed in wrong folders/modules.