general purpose util library or multiple specific dlls?

Question

Is it a better idea to dump 'utility' classes that are shared by multiple projects into a single utilities library, or to create many small assemblies each of which has to be loaded by the projects that use them?

I don't really like the idea of utility libraries, and you get a total mish-mash of functionality, but on the other hand having 20 dlls which each contain a single piece of functionality doesn't seem like a great solution either.

Is there a third way?

EDIT: This is using .net

Answer 1

I tend to put utilities into one (or a few) bigger assemblies, but work with namespaces to get a clear structure among them.

Answer 2

Depends how you will want to have your work distributed to your developers. It also depends if you want to reuse some of the classes later. And – if you have an utility class that is used in one single point in whole application – this is no longer utility class…

Answer 3

I would go with one assembly, with namespaces.

Be vigilant about what goes into the utilities library when including in a lot of projects. Else you will be confronted with something like this.