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0 pointsaianus9y ago0 comments

Vertical scaling requires hiring good engineers instead of mediocre ones (additional cost of $100,000s per year across the team). Horizontal scaling in comparison is much, much cheaper for your average CRUD app.

0 comments

brianwawok9y ago

Maybe, maybe not.

For example choosing Java over Ruby would give you 2-10x better perf per server... and I am not sure that Java devs cost any more or less than Ruby devs.

Now we can get into an argument about developer productivity and all that.. but form a purely "i want to run 10x more users per server"... something like Java / Ruby gets you a long ways.

joslin019y ago

I talked to a CTO once that said he brought his RoR fleet down from 60 servers to 6-8 by switching to Scala.

matthewmacleod9y ago

When he said "switching to Scala" I reckon he probably meant "rewriting our platform."

It's very difficult to do a comparison like this in practice, because switching languages inherently involves a rewrite of a platform.

collyw9y ago

I am curious how much a rewrite staying in Ruby could have saved. Its always easier to write code when you have a good specification, and a working application would fulfill that role well.

FooBarWidget9y ago

I was once involved in a large-scale government project that rewrote a Java app to RoR. They went from 50 servers to 10.

It has probably got more to do with the rewrite and the new architecture than whatever language it was written in.

joslin019y ago

What? It absolutely has to do with the language.

Ruby binary trees: 57 seconds Scala binary trees: 11 seconds

[1] - http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/ruby.html [2] - http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/scala.html

1 more reply

wstrange9y ago

Or the fact that new servers are an order of magnitude faster than the ones they replaced.

1 more reply

aianusOP9y ago

> I am not sure that Java devs cost any more or less than Ruby devs

I don't know about that, how many bootcamps are pumping out Java programmers instead of Python/Ruby programmers?

brianwawok9y ago

Well in Chicago some of the colleges are pumping out Java Devs...

I guess if you are comparing a 4 year college Java dev to a 6 week bootcamp Ruby dev you have something, but that seems weird...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

brianwawok9y ago

Maybe, maybe not.

For example choosing Java over Ruby would give you 2-10x better perf per server... and I am not sure that Java devs cost any more or less than Ruby devs.

Now we can get into an argument about developer productivity and all that.. but form a purely "i want to run 10x more users per server"... something like Java / Ruby gets you a long ways.

joslin019y ago

I talked to a CTO once that said he brought his RoR fleet down from 60 servers to 6-8 by switching to Scala.

matthewmacleod9y ago

When he said "switching to Scala" I reckon he probably meant "rewriting our platform."

It's very difficult to do a comparison like this in practice, because switching languages inherently involves a rewrite of a platform.

collyw9y ago

I am curious how much a rewrite staying in Ruby could have saved. Its always easier to write code when you have a good specification, and a working application would fulfill that role well.

FooBarWidget9y ago

I was once involved in a large-scale government project that rewrote a Java app to RoR. They went from 50 servers to 10.

It has probably got more to do with the rewrite and the new architecture than whatever language it was written in.

joslin019y ago

What? It absolutely has to do with the language.

Ruby binary trees: 57 seconds Scala binary trees: 11 seconds

[1] - http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/ruby.html [2] - http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/scala.html

1 more reply

wstrange9y ago

Or the fact that new servers are an order of magnitude faster than the ones they replaced.

1 more reply

aianusOP9y ago

> I am not sure that Java devs cost any more or less than Ruby devs

I don't know about that, how many bootcamps are pumping out Java programmers instead of Python/Ruby programmers?

brianwawok9y ago

Well in Chicago some of the colleges are pumping out Java Devs...

I guess if you are comparing a 4 year college Java dev to a 6 week bootcamp Ruby dev you have something, but that seems weird...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse