While I agree with having an immutable arch is preferable but in some cases it's not viable. In one of our projects we re-use the instances like in the article since we deploy multiple times an hour. In AWS you are billed for each started hour which in this case would mean that we would pay a lot extra if we created new instances for each deploy.

I do wish AWS had more granular EC2 billing, and I expect that to come soon since GCE offers it. But 2 things:

1) If you are at the scale of deploying several times an hour, the instance hour cost would probably look like a rounding error for your entire AWS spend, I'd imagine.

2) At that cadence you'll definitely benefit from using containers and a container scheduler (Kube, ECS, etc). Reuse the infrastructure but redeploy your apps to your hearts content.

Is Elastic Beanstalk not an option? It doesn't replace hosts on redeploy so you wouldn't end up cycling through unnecessary instance.

Genuine question: Why is it okay to reuse instances because it's controlled via an abstraction layer, as opposed to doing it yourself?

I agree, that doesn't make a difference.

I only mentioned EB because it does that kind of thing for you and if you don't have a highly complicated setup it makes rolling updates without changing instances very easy.

It eats a lot of RAM. If your app uses X RAM, with 2 processes it will use 2X RAM. It quickly gets expensive if you're using AWS or similar.

That's totally unrealistic. Often it's not the dev. that changes his mind, but the client. And since they have the $$$ you will be "undoing" previous work.

Exactly. Any good development process and software architecture must be responsive to change without enduring huge problems trying.

Lighten up, everyone likes a good rant once in a while (especially as good as this one). Not every link on HN can be to a white paper or similar.

Banalities, myopia, lack of perspective, bad boring writing, pandering to misconceptions does not make a good rant.

This so much. People consistently complain about PHPs' stdlib and how the naming and parameter order are not streamlined. Git is very similar to PHP in this case. It's not something that's going to keep people from using it but it is one of those warts that people just have accepted.

It was ordered by a judge. What do you suggest he would do otherwise?

He deleted his entire business before handing them over. That's even more drastic, don't you think?

Yeah like any of the internet tough guys of Hacker News would violate a court order.

The first comment (as of right now) makes me sick to my stomach:

"Why are we providing a platform for families of terrorists to advocate against American national interests? They should have considered the consequences of targeting the United States and its citizens with violence before they walked down that path.

Our intelligence services and armed forces have done a commendable job keeping Americans safe. I thank them for their service, and for keeping my family safe.

I have no time or desire to listen to this sorry speech about human and civil rights from someone who did not stop his son from advocating violence."

Google translated: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&pre...