3 ms·
2 billion is a very large number that was probably not envisioned as reachable in the near future - as a programmer I'd argue this is a pretty easy mistake to m
by Aloha 9y ago
2 billion is a very large number that was probably not envisioned as reachable in the near future - as a programmer I'd argue this is a pretty easy mistake to make, and that while (slightly) embarrassing, its a good learning moment.
It's also really awesome that you're here, and that you guys were so honest about the nature of the bug - this is really something that should be encouraged.
- chesserik 9y agoMaybe we should start a blog about all of the interesting bugs and challenges we encounter. It certainly is white-knuckle pretty often when running at scale. The number of devices, connections, features... I'm aging prematurely :P
- eru 9y agoA few articles would definitely be appreciated. Might even help with recruiting fresh blood.
- mishoo 9y agoAgree with Aloha. I wouldn't be too hard on the programmer (also, if I understand correctly it's not a database issue, but only with the 32-bit iOS client). I'd pat him on his back and say “you didn't think we'd get this big, eh?” ;-)
- nandemo 9y ago> 2 billion is a very large number that was probably not envisioned as reachable in the near future I disagree. Simple napkin calculation: 100 million players playing 40 games each per year (about 1 per week) over 5 years = 10 billion unique games. As others pointed out it was likely not a miscalculation, just a lack of calculation. The bug occurred only in the client and the decision to use a smaller data type was likely not a conscious one. In any case, I wouldn't hold it against an individual programmer. But arguably this sort of bug indicates your development process has flaws (not enough testing, code reviews, etc).