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What single project requires more than 5-10 programmers? Places with 1,000 developers spread throughout are working on hundreds of interacting projects. But, t

What single project requires more than 5-10 programmers? Places with 1,000 developers spread throughout are working on hundreds of interacting projects. But, the communication and coordination isn't between all 1,000 developers.

jcitme 16y ago
www.linux.org/
- dalore 16y ago
  It is GNU/Linux thank you.
  - krakensden 16y ago
    Distributions are GNU/Linux. The Linux kernel is Linux. And yes, I did well actually you.
- kijinbear 16y ago
  They don't all work on the same part of the kernel.
  - bad_user 16y ago
    Sorry, but that's one of the stupidest arguments I ever heard (not referring only to you, but also to the parent's parent that brought it up). Linux is a monolithic kernel, and because kernel parts depend on one another, unfinished changes are often blocking other changes and/or are breaking other parts. Of course you aren't going to have 1000 developers working on the same line in the same file. Linux is a product by itself, not a distribution of independent parts. You either have the whole kernel, or you have nothing. And I would die to see another kernel developed by 5 people, achieving the same feature-parity / stability and all that jazz as Linux.
billswift 16y ago
Your last line: "But, the communication and coordination isn't between all 1,000 developers." Deserves more than one upvote - in any successful large scale project, the programmers work in very small groups, often just pairs, and interact with other groups mainly through the code-base itself. I am tempted to say almost exclusively through the code. That is why open source works as well as it does; if management actually added much value, linux could not be as useful as it is. In fact, I suspect management often is a negative factor; when large commercial projects work it is the result of superior design, and their ability to maintain adherence to the design, which is when management does add value.
bad_user 16y ago
If you're talking about "one product" which you want to sell, then build Windows or Microsoft Office with 5 programmers. the communication and coordination isn't between all 1,000 developers. No, it's worse. Teams usually don't know what the others are doing, leading to broken, blocked or half-baked features and work duplication. Here's an example: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-c... Having all those 1000 developers talk to one another would solve all problems, but this is a problem of scale which processes solve to a certain extent. Your opinion also highlights what's wrong with software development as a whole -- you seem to be under the impression that you can go and hack stuff in a vacuum, without interacting with others.

jcitme 16y ago

www.linux.org/

dalore 16y ago
It is GNU/Linux thank you.
- krakensden 16y ago
  Distributions are GNU/Linux. The Linux kernel is Linux. And yes, I did well actually you.
kijinbear 16y ago
They don't all work on the same part of the kernel.
- bad_user 16y ago
  Sorry, but that's one of the stupidest arguments I ever heard (not referring only to you, but also to the parent's parent that brought it up). Linux is a monolithic kernel, and because kernel parts depend on one another, unfinished changes are often blocking other changes and/or are breaking other parts. Of course you aren't going to have 1000 developers working on the same line in the same file. Linux is a product by itself, not a distribution of independent parts. You either have the whole kernel, or you have nothing. And I would die to see another kernel developed by 5 people, achieving the same feature-parity / stability and all that jazz as Linux.

billswift 16y ago

Your last line: "But, the communication and coordination isn't between all 1,000 developers." Deserves more than one upvote - in any successful large scale project, the programmers work in very small groups, often just pairs, and interact with other groups mainly through the code-base itself. I am tempted to say almost exclusively through the code. That is why open source works as well as it does; if management actually added much value, linux could not be as useful as it is. In fact, I suspect management often is a negative factor; when large commercial projects work it is the result of superior design, and their ability to maintain adherence to the design, which is when management does add value.

bad_user 16y ago

If you're talking about "one product" which you want to sell, then build Windows or Microsoft Office with 5 programmers. the communication and coordination isn't between all 1,000 developers. No, it's worse. Teams usually don't know what the others are doing, leading to broken, blocked or half-baked features and work duplication. Here's an example: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-c... Having all those 1000 developers talk to one another would solve all problems, but this is a problem of scale which processes solve to a certain extent. Your opinion also highlights what's wrong with software development as a whole -- you seem to be under the impression that you can go and hack stuff in a vacuum, without interacting with others.