> Monorepo is great if you're really good, but absolutely terrible if you're not that good.
> Multiple repos, on the other hand, are passable for everyone – they're never great, but they're never truly terrible, either.
The calculus is trickier than this.
He thinks the above is true because of this other thing he says:
> With multiple repos, modularity is the norm.
But if this were true, being "Good" would be easy. I wish programming tools were this able. Then I could go to the pool every day!
But just because you're using some feature of a build or programming system -- like modules or classes or namespaces -- doesn't mean you get the win. Certainly doesn't mean you know how to wield these tools.
In the end the technical feature doesn't save you. You actually have to have a hard-earned skill, which is how to properly modularize code into stable components with narrow stable interfaces and all of that. This skill is very rare ime.
Now back to monorepo vs modules.
If you use modules but you suck at modularization you're going to be paying a huge tax. Because you'll be creating volatile code/interfaces and you'll have to go through a process each change. You will be amplifying the tax from your lack of skill that you wouldn't if you were just in a single monorepo.
On the other hand if you use a monorepo and you suck, you won't experience ^^this^^ pain and you'll be at a much higher probability of staying sucking.
In short, programming language and build features don't bestow skills.
The calculus is trickier than this.
He thinks the above is true because of this other thing he says:
> With multiple repos, modularity is the norm.
But if this were true, being "Good" would be easy. I wish programming tools were this able. Then I could go to the pool every day!
But just because you're using some feature of a build or programming system -- like modules or classes or namespaces -- doesn't mean you get the win. Certainly doesn't mean you know how to wield these tools.
In the end the technical feature doesn't save you. You actually have to have a hard-earned skill, which is how to properly modularize code into stable components with narrow stable interfaces and all of that. This skill is very rare ime.
Now back to monorepo vs modules.
If you use modules but you suck at modularization you're going to be paying a huge tax. Because you'll be creating volatile code/interfaces and you'll have to go through a process each change. You will be amplifying the tax from your lack of skill that you wouldn't if you were just in a single monorepo.
On the other hand if you use a monorepo and you suck, you won't experience ^^this^^ pain and you'll be at a much higher probability of staying sucking.
In short, programming language and build features don't bestow skills.