0, 1, Many, a Zillion

There are only four numbers in computer programs:

0, 1, many, "a zillion"

If you have 2 or more of anything, you are, in general, better off using loops to process many of them.

But what is "a zillion?"

Zillion is a made-up number. Your system cannot hold a zillion items in memory. It cannot show a zillion items on the screen.

Doesn't work for "a zillion":

Select employee name:

def handleFiles( filenames: Array[String] ) {
    val results = openFiles(filenames).readAll().processAll()
    results
}

Doesn't work for "a zillion":

Changing software from handling "many" to "a zillion" is hard if the program is already written.

Decide when you need to handle a zillion.