5 ms·

Spotify’s new open source software: XCRemoteCache

16 points by savg 5y ago

jamesfinlayson 5y ago
10 minutes build time for the Spotify app - I don't do mobile development - is that a long time? I've only briefly touched a point of sale iOS app and compiling took maybe 30 seconds.
- teakettle42 5y ago
  That’s an unfathomably long time for an application of the complexity of Spotify.
  - piva00 5y ago
    What do you know about the complexity of the Spotify app?
    - tsss 5y ago
      It's a music player and not even a good one.
      - styren 5y ago
        What you're saying has nothing to do with the complexity of their app.
      - piva00 5y ago
        Is it really just a music player? All it does is fetch some binary blob in some audio format and play it? I feel this is another Dropbox moment [1] on Hacker News where the hyper-smart ones here dismiss a whole technology/company on their most simplistic assumptions about what the product actually is doing. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224
      - dbbk 5y ago
        There are hundreds of screens in the Spotify app
  - marcellus23 5y ago
    No it’s not, and the Spotify app is clearly fairly complex.
- dado3212 5y ago
  Nah it’s not. Most big tech companies optimize for having multiple devs be able to work simultaneously on different projects, which usually is orthogonal to build time (lots of potentially redundant code, lots of libraries that are split up). Is it slow for a single dev project? 100%, but it’s pretty reasonable for a larger company. Last I heard FB’s app took like 30+ minutes to cold start build.
- edvardwendelin 5y ago
  Disclosure: Work on mobile infrastructure at Spotify. A lot of the Spotify app isn't perhaps visible at a first glance. Besides the key features I'm sure you're already familiar with, there is also an extensive number of 3rd party integrations (cars, wearables, voice, social sharing etc). The app as a whole is 1-2M LOC Objective-C & Swift.
danielfoster 5y ago
This is great, but maybe they should focus on fixing the bugs in their existing apps? Spotify is the slowest performing and most buggy app I use.
- nivenkos 5y ago
  I see this sentiment a lot, but it's always worked perfectly for me. The device connection is very impressive, and it even supports MPRIS on Linux. I find it even easier to use than Netflix (and there's no DRM limitations like Netflix). The only thing I dislike are the changes to the UI due to adding podcasts now, and how many clicks it can take to find a specific older, unpopular album in an artist's discography. But just the fact that it supports Linux and has all the music I listen to, really makes it a no-brainer in terms of maintaining a subscription.

16 points by savg 5y ago

10 minutes build time for the Spotify app - I don't do mobile development - is that a long time? I've only briefly touched a point of sale iOS app and compiling took maybe 30 seconds.

teakettle42 5y ago
That’s an unfathomably long time for an application of the complexity of Spotify.
- piva00 5y ago
  What do you know about the complexity of the Spotify app?
  - tsss 5y ago
    It's a music player and not even a good one.
    - styren 5y ago
      What you're saying has nothing to do with the complexity of their app.
    - piva00 5y ago
      Is it really just a music player? All it does is fetch some binary blob in some audio format and play it? I feel this is another Dropbox moment [1] on Hacker News where the hyper-smart ones here dismiss a whole technology/company on their most simplistic assumptions about what the product actually is doing. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224
    - dbbk 5y ago
      There are hundreds of screens in the Spotify app
- marcellus23 5y ago
  No it’s not, and the Spotify app is clearly fairly complex.
dado3212 5y ago
Nah it’s not. Most big tech companies optimize for having multiple devs be able to work simultaneously on different projects, which usually is orthogonal to build time (lots of potentially redundant code, lots of libraries that are split up). Is it slow for a single dev project? 100%, but it’s pretty reasonable for a larger company. Last I heard FB’s app took like 30+ minutes to cold start build.
edvardwendelin 5y ago
Disclosure: Work on mobile infrastructure at Spotify. A lot of the Spotify app isn't perhaps visible at a first glance. Besides the key features I'm sure you're already familiar with, there is also an extensive number of 3rd party integrations (cars, wearables, voice, social sharing etc). The app as a whole is 1-2M LOC Objective-C & Swift.

danielfoster 5y ago

This is great, but maybe they should focus on fixing the bugs in their existing apps? Spotify is the slowest performing and most buggy app I use.

nivenkos 5y ago
I see this sentiment a lot, but it's always worked perfectly for me. The device connection is very impressive, and it even supports MPRIS on Linux. I find it even easier to use than Netflix (and there's no DRM limitations like Netflix). The only thing I dislike are the changes to the UI due to adding podcasts now, and how many clicks it can take to find a specific older, unpopular album in an artist's discography. But just the fact that it supports Linux and has all the music I listen to, really makes it a no-brainer in terms of maintaining a subscription.