It's the Future • Hacker News Board

Re: It's the Future

#11

Post by VieElm » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:11 PM UTC

Well these technologies are there to help bring Google type infrastructure for businesses that need it. If you're running a CRUD app just fine on Heroku you don't need to do any of this and you shouldn't.

When your availability starts having problems or your data is getting too much for one machine, you start having problems of scale. Where you are in terms of scaling issues should lead you to the next iteration of technology required to keep your service up.

Starting out of the gates with that one idea you're not sure anyone will be interested in? Just stick to deploying something fast and not worry about Google style scaling solutions.

Re: It's the Future

#12

Post by beat » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:12 PM UTC

lukasm wrote: post #9

Animats wrote: post #3

Ah, l33t for system architects. A few days ago, the CTO of Soylent, the food drink, was describing their elaborate computer infrastructure. They have one (1) product and a simple web site. Based on their sales volume, they do about two sales a minute. That could run on a HostGator "Hatchling" account for $4/month, using one of the seven off the shelf shopping cart/payment programs HostGator offers.

Maybe it's for internal apps, managing production of soylent, inventory

Production workflow and inventory management are totally greenfield. No one has ever written apps for that stuff before, nope.

Re: It's the Future

#13

Post by fennecfoxen » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:13 PM UTC

aerovistae wrote: post #6

This is exactly how I feel whenever people start talking about this stuff. Is that bad? I know this is a satirical post but it seems like a pretty faithful depiction of reality.

If people are talking about breaking up a simple web application and saddling it with all sorts of crazy complexity, then this is the correct reaction and you should feel bad.

If people actually have a legitimate need for really high availability and really high scalability and are willing to pay through the nose for the software development necessary to make a straightforward system into a distributed system... well, you should still feel just bad about all the complexity, but you're basically stuck with it :)

Re: It's the Future

#14

Post by thebouv » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:13 PM UTC

Reading this made my brain feel itchy.

Because it's too close to some conversations I've had.

Re: It's the Future

#15

Post by theVirginian » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

jbigelow76 wrote: post #10

Animats wrote: post #3

Ah, l33t for system architects. A few days ago, the CTO of Soylent, the food drink, was describing their elaborate computer infrastructure. They have one (1) product and a simple web site. Based on their sales volume, they do about two sales a minute. That could run on a HostGator "Hatchling" account for $4/month, using one of the seven off the shelf shopping cart/payment programs HostGator offers.

What else would the Soylent team do with all the free time not spent preparing and chewing their food like neanderthals?

I like to think its more akin to the Jettsons but I digress...

Re: It's the Future

#16

Post by canistr » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #8

Rails? That's so yesterday. New hotness is React! React? I thought we were doing Angular? Come on man, you're stuck in the past!

New, new hotness is React Native (or whenever FB decides to make it also available on Android) and JSBlocks.

Re: It's the Future

#17

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: It's the Future

#18

Post by jakejake » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

VieElm wrote: post #11

Well these technologies are there to help bring Google type infrastructure for businesses that need it. If you're running a CRUD app just fine on Heroku you don't need to do any of this and you shouldn't. When your availability starts having problems or your data is getting too much for one machine, you start having problems of scale. Where you are in terms of scaling issues should lead you to the next iteration of t…

Seems to be the problem with a lot of technologies. If you're a HN reader, you can start to get the feeling that you're falling behind if you're not doing these things. Even though they are totally inappropriate for the majority of us who are working on smaller systems.

Re: It's the Future

#19

Post by stephengillie » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:16 PM UTC

beat wrote: post #12

lukasm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's for internal apps, managing production of soylent, inventory

Production workflow and inventory management are totally greenfield. No one has ever written apps for that stuff before, nope.

Can we make it cheaper than we can buy it? Is their purchase price more expensive than my hourly wage for a few months?

Re: It's the Future

#20

Post by VieElm » Tue, Jun 09, 2015, 9:17 PM UTC

jakejake wrote: post #18

VieElm wrote: post #11

Well these technologies are there to help bring Google type infrastructure for businesses that need it. If you're running a CRUD app just fine on Heroku you don't need to do any of this and you shouldn't. When your availability starts having problems or your data is getting too much for one machine, you start having problems of scale. Where you are in terms of scaling issues should lead you to the next iteration of t…

Seems to be the problem with a lot of technologies. If you're a HN reader, you can start to get the feeling that you're falling behind if you're not doing these things. Even though they are totally inappropriate for the majority of us who are working on smaller systems.

As an engineer I feel an obligation to know about these things and how they work. It might be appropriate for my work. For my own projects I am just going to start out with a Django or Meteor app and if I'm lucky enough to have to worry about scale I'll have some idea of what to do next.