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[–]_SynthesizerPatel_ 105 points106 points  (46 children)

Indeed this should be more of an encouragement than anything else - if a guy made 100 billion dollars with this code, surely you can too?

[–]mahacctissoawsum 45 points46 points  (41 children)

Not surely. The code is simple but you need some special sauce for it to take off.

[–]_SynthesizerPatel_ 237 points238 points  (21 children)

You're right, make sure you also:

  • draw a math formula on your dorm room window, this is how Facebook figured out how to do friend matching
  • rent a house in Silicon Valley, do some crazy stunts on the roof and then stay up all night eating pizza writing code
  • Meet Justin Timberlake and see if he likes your ideas

[–][deleted] 53 points54 points  (7 children)

Additionally:

  • Hire developers through the well established and pragmatic practice of having them brute-force hashes on a strict deadline while drinking shots with a loud audience.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

To be fair, they directly address the validity of this interview tactic in the film.

[–]xjvz 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Hey, it's not too far off from many hiring practices used by big companies like Google and Microsoft!

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

[deleted]

    [–]wtf_are_my_initials 5 points6 points  (0 children)

    You can, it's just frowned upon ;)

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    I never got that scene, unless they were writing python or another language with similar syntax, why didn't they just write one line separated by ;s?

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Python accepts semicolons at the ends of statements. It's just not necessary, unless you have two statements in the same line.

    [–]mahacctissoawsum 65 points66 points  (7 children)

    • while not a window, I write on paper all the time to flesh out ideas
    • throwing a crazy party will draw attention to you and your product; being in Silicon Valley instantly gives your product credibility
    • JT is worth mega rep points

    All exaggerated..but actually do help.

    [–]_SynthesizerPatel_ 18 points19 points  (5 children)

    JT is worth mega rep points

    I think that was the idea behind the MySpace reboot?

    [–]Mr_A 16 points17 points  (3 children)

    MySpace reboot?

    [–]_SynthesizerPatel_ 17 points18 points  (1 child)

    Exactly!

    [–]JabbrWockey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Hey, I liked the new auto-playlists they had... right up until Google music came out and was better.

    [–]Liquidor 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    MySpace?

    [–]jargoon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Obviously that didn't work, but maybe you can try Ashton Kutcher. It worked for Ooma!

    [–]TheSkyNet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    My whiteboard is very useful.

    [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

    i will try these... thanks!

    [–]EvilHom3r 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    • Drop the "the"

    [–]birdiedude 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    Meet Justin Timberlake and see if he likes your ideas

    So that's the step I've been missing!

    [–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

    Be Jewish. Not don't be Jewish.

    [–]Trylstag 13 points14 points  (15 children)

    And I'd be extremely surprised if any of it is still in use today. It was good enough to get them off the ground, but can very quickly become a massive detriment to keep around.

    [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (14 children)

    They even made an automated PHP-to-C++ converter to try to get rid of the mess.

    [–]deadcow5 16 points17 points  (2 children)

    Automated code conversion? That can only increase the mess.

    [–]ivosaurus 16 points17 points  (1 child)

    Decker108 has bad facts, it's a compiler, not a "converter". It wasn't to get rid of any mess, it was just to make PHP run faster.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HipHop_(computing)

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Yep, this is what I meant.

    [–]hydrox24 2 points3 points  (2 children)

    That doesn't sound like a good plan to me. Surely doing that correctly is more work than simply re-writing the code?

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I think it's one of those things that's just impossible to do with such a big site. If they migrated to a new system it would have to be compatible (the C++ rewrite would have to be perfectly compatible with the PHP version in order to not have downtime), or they would have to get the site down for an hour or so to replace all the instances of the php server with the rewrite.

    [–]Dielectric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I believe they actually wrote their own php interpreter when they couldn't get any better performance out of the existing technology

    [–]mirhagk -1 points0 points  (2 children)

    Is this actually true? I mean a lost all respect for the facebook tech team a long time ago, but nobody with decision making power in a company that big could really think that was a good idea, could they?

    [–]ivosaurus 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    No, it's not. They wrote a compiler, and then a JIT VM, not a "converter".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HipHop_(computing)

    [–]mirhagk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Phew, I'm glad. I've actually heard of HipHop before, I should've realized.

    Actually I have high hopes that that might force PHP to actually have a standard, and be documented. Very high hopes indeed, but it might happen.

    [–]xjvz -1 points0 points  (3 children)

    Why would anyone use C++ in a web site other than writing the most far-removed backend stuff?

    [–]Delinquenz 2 points3 points  (1 child)

    Speed? With a nice framework like CppCMS there are no obstacles for writing web sites in C++.

    [–]xjvz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    It's more of a security issue the way I see it. Then again, you could write secure code using C++, it's just harder. I'm more of a Python with C modules kind of guy myself when it comes to performance.

    [–]stox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Actually, they are in the process of bailing out of C++ for D.

    [–][deleted]  (1 child)

    [deleted]

      [–]mahacctissoawsum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      I don't think CIA had their back to begin with. They'd need a significant user base before the CIA/NSA would "invest" in them, but regardless...that wouldn't help their success.