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📹 Video Information:
Title: GitHub's tech stack
Duration: 00:58
Overview
The video discusses the current state of a large-scale Ruby on Rails monolithic application, highlighting its continued use alongside the integration of modern technologies and architectures. It emphasizes the evolution from a pure monolith to a more diverse tech stack incorporating various programming languages and platforms.
Main Topics Covered
- Status and scale of the Ruby on Rails monolith
- Integration of modern frontend technologies like React
- Development of microservices and APIs in different languages (Go, .NET)
- Evolution towards modern architecture beyond the monolith
- Use of mobile development technologies (Swift, Kotlin)
- Cloud infrastructure and on-premises data centers
Key Takeaways & Insights
- Despite its age and size, the Ruby on Rails monolith remains central with a large engineering team contributing regularly.
- The monolith has over 2 million git commits and tens of thousands of pull requests, indicating active and extensive development.
- The architecture is evolving by incorporating microservices and APIs written in languages suited to their specific needs, such as Go for high API call volumes.
- Frontend development is shifting towards React, improving UI/UX.
- Mobile applications are developed using native technologies like Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android.
- Infrastructure strategy includes a hybrid approach with cloud services and physical data centers.
Actionable Strategies
- Maintain and evolve legacy monolithic systems by gradually integrating modern technologies rather than complete rewrites.
- Utilize the right programming languages and frameworks for specific service needs to optimize performance (e.g., Go for API-heavy services).
- Adopt modern frontend frameworks like React to enhance user interfaces.
- Develop native mobile applications using platform-specific languages for better performance and user experience.
- Implement a hybrid cloud strategy combining cloud resources with on-premises infrastructure for flexibility and control.
Specific Details & Examples
- The monolithic Ruby on Rails application has about 700 engineers contributing at different times.
- Over 2 million git commits and tens of thousands of pull requests have been made into the monolith.
- The copilot API is implemented in Go, designed to handle many API calls for inference.
- Transitioning legacy .NET codebases towards more modern architecture.
- Mobile apps use Swift (iOS) and Kotlin (Android).
- Cloud infrastructure is complemented by commercial data centers using physical metal servers.
Warnings & Common Mistakes
- While not explicitly stated, the implication is that abandoning large monolithic systems entirely might not be necessary or practical.
- A common mistake might be trying to rewrite everything at once instead of evolving the architecture incrementally.
- Managing a large engineering team contributing to a single monolith requires careful coordination and tooling to handle the volume of commits and pull requests.
Resources & Next Steps
- The video references future posts or content that will discuss the transition beyond the monolith in more detail.
- Encourages exploration of microservices architecture and modern frontend frameworks.
- Suggests monitoring and managing large-scale codebases with robust version control and code review processes.
📝 Transcript (30 entries):
today. Is it still a Ruby on Rails monolith or have things changed? It's still Ruby on Rails and I think it's still one of the largest Ruby on Rails applications. We still have a large monolith with about 700 engineers in the company contributing to it at different times of the year. Not all of them are working constantly in the monolith. We actually just passed 2 million git commits into the monolith and tens of thousands of pull requests. But we also have moved beyond just that one architecture. So for example, we're using more and more React on the front end. We have a number of services that outside the model. For example, the copilot API is written and go given it needs lots of API calls for inference.
The actions sits on a completely different text stack. There was a lot of .NET code in that codebase and over time we are now evolving that into a more more modern architecture with the goal of one of the other posts getting to 49 and beyond. Obviously, we're doing also Swift for iPhone app. We have Cotlin for Android app. We're using all the clouds beyond also having our own metal in commercial data centers.