The Thirty Million Line Problem

Caption notes

Casey Muratori uses the example of reading a text file in a browser to ask how many software layers a seemingly simple operation crosses. He argues that whether hardware gains reach users also depends on how well those layers and the hardware interfaces can be understood and tested. He proposes stable, directly programmable interfaces for a whole system on a chip so developers can build smaller operating systems while retaining the option of higher-level libraries. In the Q&A, he distinguishes a small kernel from a system that supports modern consumer hardware and acknowledges that standardization takes coordination and can slow interface changes. The line counts, performance examples and industry scenarios are estimates, illustrations and hypotheses used in his argument.