How Many Lines Of Code Are There In Google, Facebook, And Windows OS

Apps and services, which are a vital part of our digital life, are written in various programming languages. For example, the iOS apps are written using Swift and for Android, the developers can either use Java or the simpler Lua using Corona. Microsoft Windows is developed using C and C++. Linux Kernel which is the heart of all Linux Distros is written in C. Internet websites are made using JavaScript, HTML, CSS for the front-end and Python, Go, C++, ASP.NET, etc for the back-end.

Apart from many features, one thing that differentiates these languages is the number of lines of code. For instance, people who use Python have the advantage of typing a lesser number of lines than the ones using Java or C.

Here is an illustration which shows the number of lines of code used to create some of the biggest creations in the history of technology. It includes the software that runs the first ever space shuttle, the NASA’s Curiosity rover living a solitary life on mars, Google’s Android OS, etc.

The idea for this illustration sparked in our brain when we came across the “Million Lines of Code” infographic designed by Information Is Beautiful. Our bar graph is a smaller version of the bigger picture depicted in the million lines of code.

Comparing the lines of code for the two most used websites on the internet, Google (includes all of Google’s internet services) clearly stands out with its 2 billion lines, leaving behind Facebook with 61,000,000 lines of code. Although, Facebook is only a social networking platform in comparison to Google whose products cover many services.

Interesting fact: The original space shuttle needed 5,000 times fewer lines of code than Google.

The data was collected by Information Is beautiful. You can see the original infographic here.

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Also Read: What Programming Language Does Your Country Like?