4 ms·

I have only worked at a few companies, and I won't comment about the quality of engineering done at Google, but Google's Engineering Systems are the best I have

by dlp211 4y ago

I have only worked at a few companies, and I won't comment about the quality of engineering done at Google, but Google's Engineering Systems are the best I have ever used. From Code Search to Critique to Cider (Online IDE) to Blaze (Build) to having the entire code base "mounted" on my dev machine and the integration with golinks, it was an absolute pleasure to work with.

paganel 4y ago
> From Code Search What could have been... [1] Yes, I'm still bitter about it after all those years. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code_Search https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code_Search
saagarjha 4y ago
> having the entire code base "mounted" on my dev machine My impression is that this is a result of a policy that google3 never touches a developer machine, which of course means you can't disconnect and work from a log cabin in the woods. Really sounds like bending yourself around an antipattern to be honest.
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  Very few people are capable of doing engineering from a cabin in the woods even if they can mirror the entire code base on their machine since engineering is a collaborative effort.
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    I would hope that you are able to work on self-contained projects without having to interact with other people for at least a day or two at a time…
    - UncleMeat 4y ago
      Who is driving out to a cabin in the woods to work for just one day?
      - saagarjha 4y ago
        Never taken a three day trip but want to get work done on Monday?
        UncleMeat 4y ago
        Not to a cabin in the woods with no internet. This is becoming an increasingly remote (hah) scenario where doing development over web-based IDEs and SSH becomes a problem. For the incredibly few people who do this sort of thing regularly, you could get satellite internet reimbursed. There is even a story of a SRE who used to work from the top of mountains on occasion because he hiked so much.
- dlp211 4y ago
  It's not your code, it's Google's and I don't see how this is an anti-pattern. It is actually one of the best thought out solutions to balancing source code supply chain security and productivity. The fact that the industry has moved towards git and allows employees to clone proprietary codebases onto developer machines anywhere in the world is pure insanity.
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    It’s also Google’s laptop but maybe they should have me remote into it instead of letting me touch it. Who knows, I might steal it…
    - enneff 4y ago
      To Google, a laptop is worthless compared to their intellectual property.
      - saagarjha 4y ago
        It's more the principle of the thing–if I wanted to steal code from Google their "no source code on laptops" policy wouldn't stop me at all. And given that I don't actually want to steal code the policy sucks, so the real question is what the benefit is here by treating me like a criminal.
        enneff 4y ago
        It’s not that a google employee would steal the code, it’s that if a laptop is compromised the access to the source code can be immediately revoked. So if someone steals an employee’s laptop and coerces their password from them, the source code can not be accessed for long, and exactly what source code was seen is known.

by dlp211 4y ago

paganel 4y ago

> From Code Search What could have been... [1] Yes, I'm still bitter about it after all those years. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code_Search https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code_Search

saagarjha 4y ago

> having the entire code base "mounted" on my dev machine My impression is that this is a result of a policy that google3 never touches a developer machine, which of course means you can't disconnect and work from a log cabin in the woods. Really sounds like bending yourself around an antipattern to be honest.

UncleMeat 4y ago
Very few people are capable of doing engineering from a cabin in the woods even if they can mirror the entire code base on their machine since engineering is a collaborative effort.
- saagarjha 4y ago
  I would hope that you are able to work on self-contained projects without having to interact with other people for at least a day or two at a time…
  - UncleMeat 4y ago
    Who is driving out to a cabin in the woods to work for just one day?
    - saagarjha 4y ago
      Never taken a three day trip but want to get work done on Monday?
      - UncleMeat 4y ago
        Not to a cabin in the woods with no internet. This is becoming an increasingly remote (hah) scenario where doing development over web-based IDEs and SSH becomes a problem. For the incredibly few people who do this sort of thing regularly, you could get satellite internet reimbursed. There is even a story of a SRE who used to work from the top of mountains on occasion because he hiked so much.
dlp211 4y ago
It's not your code, it's Google's and I don't see how this is an anti-pattern. It is actually one of the best thought out solutions to balancing source code supply chain security and productivity. The fact that the industry has moved towards git and allows employees to clone proprietary codebases onto developer machines anywhere in the world is pure insanity.
- saagarjha 4y ago
  It’s also Google’s laptop but maybe they should have me remote into it instead of letting me touch it. Who knows, I might steal it…
  - enneff 4y ago
    To Google, a laptop is worthless compared to their intellectual property.
    - saagarjha 4y ago
      It's more the principle of the thing–if I wanted to steal code from Google their "no source code on laptops" policy wouldn't stop me at all. And given that I don't actually want to steal code the policy sucks, so the real question is what the benefit is here by treating me like a criminal.
      - enneff 4y ago
        It’s not that a google employee would steal the code, it’s that if a laptop is compromised the access to the source code can be immediately revoked. So if someone steals an employee’s laptop and coerces their password from them, the source code can not be accessed for long, and exactly what source code was seen is known.