I never worked on Chrome directly, but I looked into the Chromium code sometimes when debugging some weird JS issues.

What strikes me first is how much code there is…

There are tons of code, some things copied multiple times, because Chrome nowadays does a lot of things; basically it’s an entire operating system, which accesses USB, runs assembly code, runs WebGL, basically all.

And it’s all in C++, and very verbose Google C++.

But in the end I always found what I was looking for there. And I can’t say how good or bad the C++ is, as I’m not C++ dev. Just there is a LOT of it.

I wonder if there is any piece of software that actually works and yet developers don't call its source code a shitshow. I understand code as akin to biology, full of repetitions and garbage DNA because these things are live and evolve along with the environment, and cannot be "pure" for more than a few months. C++ is very versatile, but i bet that using a verbose makes it much easier for newcomers to find their way around with the code compared to using an uber-abstracted style.

The core of the Linux kernel, in my experience. It's regularly refactored by grizzled oldtimers, which helps as standards rise.

I've heard horror stories from Google engineers, but I don't think they're public so I shan't quote them.

I am tempted to put a reminder in my calendar for a few years' time to see where this engineer is, though...