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by testUser69 3428 days ago
I think it's more naive to believe that large companies always make the right decisions. We see Microsoft make mistake after mistake (look at windows 8, windows vista). The only time they fix their mistakes is when they're made public.

So there is no reason to fix their mistake of a code base.
2 comments
ska 3428 days ago
It would be naive to assume large companies always make the right decisions, which is why few people do that.

However, when you see that a large company is doing something in a way that you thing is silly or strange, the logical thing to ask first is "what do they understand that I don't understand?". It won't always be the case, of course, but most of the time it will turn out you were missing something.

Assuming off the bat that they are idiots and you know a better way is staggeringly naive.

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oz 3427 days ago
>the logical thing to ask first is "what do they understand that I don't understand?".

There's even a name for this: "Going from D to C - from disparagement to curiosity". I think I first heard it from @patio11.

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patio11 3427 days ago
Doesn't sound like the way I would phrase the thought, so I checked: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/09/17/ramit-sethi-and-patrick-... <-- Ramit said it here, although I suspect it might be older.
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ska 3427 days ago
It isn't the snappiest label, but it does capture the idea well.
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CJefferson 3428 days ago
But, it seems all large companies (Facebook, Google, Microsoft) are using a mono-repo, and no-one is publicly admitting to using many small repos.

If no company is using many small repos for truly massive projects, then it's hard to argue it would be a good idea. Could everyone who has looked at this problem make the wrong choice?

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Sacho 3428 days ago
This is also mirrored by many not-so-big javascript projects, i.e. see the adoption of https://github.com/lerna/lerna
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keithlfrost 3428 days ago
Note that Amazon is not on your list. They did not adopt the mono-repo approach. Their tools have their own advantages and disadvantages, to be sure, but mono-repo is not the only way.
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CJefferson 3427 days ago
I hadn't heard about Amazon. That's good to know.
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krallja 3427 days ago
Read Steve Yegge's Google vs Amazon rant: it's amazing.

https://plus.google.com/+RipRowan/posts/eVeouesvaVX

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aanm1988 3427 days ago
> no-one is publicly admitting to using many small repos.

Amazon. They built an entire system around managing versions so that they can make it work.

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