Insight into the inter-workings of Facebook

Started by taxed, January 18, 2011, 12:37:01 PM

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taxed

Cool blog from a guy who compiled some info on how Facebook does things...

The two biggest surprises for me where:

Quote
after boot camp, all engineers get access to live DB (comes with standard lecture about "with great power comes great responsibility" and a clear list of "fire-able offenses", e.g., sharing private user data)

Never in a million years would I give that access to everyone.  I'm sure they are designed to easily recover from a big blunder, but still, it is not something you just allow anyone to do, even after a grueling training period.  In my early days, when I started gaining more trust from the senior engineers, and they let me sit in the drivers seat (with them at my side of course), I remember thinking how I can bring down the company with just a simple SQL statement.

Also,

Quote
any engineer can modify any part of FB's code base and check-in at-will

This one blows my mind too.  With software projects, code files are stored in a repository.  When you make a change to the code, you "check out" the file from the repository to edit it, and "check in" when done.  The changes you made are logged, and if something went wrong, you can always roll back to the last version.  So, the fact that any engineer can make code changes anytime is insane to me.


The rest of the article is pretty fascinating to me, describing how they have an engineered-driven environment, which to my way of thinking, is the worst idea.  You never want engineers designing your software.  Engineers, by nature, are not like regular folk who actually would use the product....

http://framethink.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/how-facebook-ships-code/


EDIT: It seems like there have been some rebuttals to a lot of the author's notes, so it isn't as crazy as I pictured it to be,  but interesting nonetheless....
#PureBlood #TrumpWon

walkstall

Quote from: taxed on January 18, 2011, 12:37:01 PM
Cool blog from a guy who compiled some info on how Facebook does things...

The two biggest surprises for me where:

Never in a million years would I give that access to everyone.  I'm sure they are designed to easily recover from a big blunder, but still, it is not something you just allow anyone to do, even after a grueling training period.  In my early days, when I started gaining more trust from the senior engineers, and they let me sit in the drivers seat (with them at my side of course), I remember thinking how I can bring down the company with just a simple SQL statement.

Also,

This one blows my mind too.  With software projects, code files are stored in a repository.  When you make a change to the code, you "check out" the file from the repository to edit it, and "check in" when done.  The changes you made are logged, and if something went wrong, you can always roll back to the last version.  So, the fact that any engineer can make code changes anytime is insane to me.


The rest of the article is pretty fascinating to me, describing how they have an engineered-driven environment, which to my way of thinking, is the worst idea.  You never want engineers designing your software.  Engineers, by nature, are not like regular folk who actually would use the product....

http://framethink.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/how-facebook-ships-code/


EDIT: It seems like there have been some rebuttals to a lot of the author's notes, so it isn't as crazy as I pictured it to be,  but interesting nonetheless....

I do not trust F/B so I do not even go there. 
A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.- James Freeman Clarke

Always remember "Feelings Aren't Facts."

taxed

Quote from: walkstall on January 18, 2011, 12:56:49 PM
I do not trust F/B so I do not even go there.

Same here.  I canceled my account actually. I don't need them Larrikin-ing me...
#PureBlood #TrumpWon

Solar

Quote from: taxed on January 18, 2011, 01:05:29 PM
Same here.  I canceled my account actually. I don't need them Larrikin-ing me...
LOL, you've coined a new term. 8)
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!