To help the non-code-savvy perceive the size (and potential) of a million lines of code, “Information is Beautiful” author David McCandless designed a simple infographic that includes software programs, print books, history and even organisms to compare relative total lines of code. A million lines of code is equivalent to “War and Peace” 14 times over; Facebook has more code than the Large Hadron collider and the average iPhone app requires very little. McCandless gives a small jab at the end, placing the “Apparent Size of Healthcare.gov website” at the large end of the spectrum—implying that more code isn’t always better, and might be an efficiency issue.
A Million Lines of Code