Lines of Code

Here is a list of products:

• Facebook
• New luxury car
• Large Hadron Collider
• Google

Can you rank order this list in terms of number of lines of code needed to create the product?  I'll give you a minute to think about it.

Ok, time's up.  Here is the rank-ordered list:

1. Google (2 billion)
2. New luxury car (100+ million)
3. Facebook (60 million)
4. Large Hadron Collider (50 million)

This is pretty remarkable (or mind blasting if you're Indian).  There is something disconcerting about the device we use to peer into the subatomic nature of reality requiring fewer lines of code than a Mercedes C-class or the means by which we find cat videos on the Interwebz.