[scrollaway]

As orf said you have no idea about their codebase. And you have no idea what's included in that statement -- given that they talk about startup time, they most likely are taking into account the whole framework, a plethora of admin and analytics tools, lots of debugging / debug-only infrastructure, migrations, lots of tooling whose sole purpose is making it easier to work in large teams, etc…

(And for the record, Linux is ~37 million lines of actual code, Postgres ~2 million, and gcc ~8 million)

There's nothing absurd about one of the most visited websites on earth to be a couple million LOC.

[carapace]

> As orf said you have no idea about their codebase.

I do too: It's Python and it's several million lines.

Metaphor: you've got three pallets of goods and have hired three trucks to move them. I don't have to know how you wrapped the pallets to know that you brought two too many trucks.

I don't have to know the details of what's included in "Instagram Server" et. al. to make this call (obviously) based on my experience and first-hand knowledge of similar codebases. Frankly, I am kind of disappointed in the pushback I'm getting on this. The only reason to have a multi-million line Python project is for the entertainment of devs, or, worse yet, job security.

Let me put it this way, if the CTO of Instagram showed up here I would be willing to bet US$100,000 that I could reduce the Instagram code by 90% in six months. (Do you think the devs there would appreciate that? Even the one that got laid off as a result?)

If I sound cynical it's only because I've seen this sort of thing for myself. I'm not trying to say that the Instagram devs are dumb or nefarious, this kind of code happens organically and often despite our best efforts. But that code needs a diet. I'm sure of that.

- - - -

edit: In re:

> (And for the record, Linux is ~37 million lines of actual code, Postgres ~2 million, and gcc ~8 million)

So, call it 50M LoC, what's your ratio for Python/C? Meaning, how many lines of C code are replaced, on average, by one line of Python?

And how feature-complete are we talking? POSIX? GCC targets a lot of languages and platforms, eh?

If you were going for an integrated system, like Oberon OS or a Smalltalk IDE, I think my claim is still plausible, eh?

:)

[abledon]

Let me put it this way, if the CTO of Instagram showed up here I would be willing to bet US$100,000 that I could reduce the Instagram code by 90% in six months.

Classic HN comment!

[scrollaway]

I'm not sure what good these kinds of bets are. All code could be made leaner and smaller. What's your point?

[carapace]

> I'm not sure what good these kinds of bets are.

I'm just putting some numbers on my confidence level.

> All code could be made leaner and smaller. What's your point?

That Instagram's code could be made much leaner and smaller. I feel like I've been very clear about that.

[rswail]

And from Instagram's POV, the ROI on that would be much less than putting in the sort of belts and braces that the article talked about.

They don't have the time or space to engage in a massive technical debt reduction program, they're too busy destroying Snapchat and other competitors, reacting to TikTok, implementing an entirely new IGTV video service that provides their customers (ie advertisers and marketers) the equivalent of youtube within the Instagram universe, etc.

I'm sure that every large internet service's codebase out there could be made much leaner and smaller. The question is whether that is worth their while.

[carapace]

Dude, sincerely, thank you. I feel like this is the sane answer I was waiting for. Cheers! (and for your other comment in re: what all Instagram does. I appreciate it.)

You're totally right.