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| Linus Torvalds was interviewed by Linus Tech Tips and sharply criticized one of Musk’s approaches. |
Linus Torvalds is no stranger to controversy. The legendary creator of the Linux kernel is famous for his no-nonsense, often brutally honest communication style. Who could forget his famous one-fingered salute aimed at Nvidia, branding them "the worst company" he'd ever dealt with? Now, the open-source pioneer has leveled his criticism at a new target, though this time, the direct hit was initially unintentional: Elon Musk.
The moment unfolded in a recent, wide-ranging interview on the popular Linus Tech Tips YouTube channel. The discussion, meant to explore the future of software development, took a sharp turn when a seemingly innocuous but deeply flawed idea surfaced: measuring a programmer's productivity by the number of lines of code they write.
“Simply Incompetent”: Torvalds Drops the Hammer on a Flawed Philosophy
For Torvalds, the mere suggestion was ludicrous. In software engineering, quality, structure, elegance, and long-term maintainability are the true hallmarks of great work—not raw volume.
“If you measure programmers by lines of code, you are simply incompetent,” Torvalds stated bluntly to host Linus Sebastian. He didn’t mince words about managers who would endorse such a metric, either, adding that anyone who holds that view is “simply too stupid to work in a tech company.”
You can watch the full, unvarnished exchange where Torvalds breaks down why this approach is so destructive in the Linus Tech Tips interview right here.
What Torvalds didn’t know in that moment was the reported origin of this specific productivity philosophy. As the host pointed out, this lines-of-code metric is famously associated with none other than Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has reportedly used it to evaluate engineers at his companies.
“Apparently I Was Spot On”: Torvalds Doubles Down on Musk Criticism
Informed of the connection, Torvalds didn’t flinch, backtrack, or offer a diplomatic correction. Instead, he leaned in. With a wry acknowledgment, he simply said, “Apparently I was spot on.”
The implication was clear: the criticism stood, and its target was now explicitly identified. For Torvalds, the principle was paramount, and if it implicated one of the world's most famous tech executives, so be it.
Programmers and Reddit Rally Behind Torvalds
The reaction from the software development community was swift and overwhelmingly supportive. Across the YouTube comments and in sprawling threads on platforms like Reddit, programmers cheered Torvalds for saying what they’ve long believed.
The incident fueled broader skepticism about Musk’s technical leadership persona. Many commenters argued it exposed a gap between the “tech genius” image and the practical understanding of real software engineering management. The focus on lines of code is often seen as a hallmark of an outsider or a manager who doesn’t grasp that good developers write less code to solve more problems.
One Reddit user, u/kraven48, echoed a sentiment shared by many: “Even a freshman in college could tell you that using the number of lines of code as a metric is stupid. It encourages bloated, inefficient code and punishes those who refactor and simplify.”
The Bigger Picture: A Clash of Software Development Cultures
This moment is more than just tech industry drama. It represents a fundamental clash in software development philosophy.
On one side is the Torvalds school of thought, rooted in decades of open-source collaboration: value deep technical insight, peer review, elegant solutions, and sustainable code that lasts for decades. It’s a world where respect is earned through contribution and technical merit.
On the other is a more corporate, output-focused approach sometimes attributed to figures like Musk, where aggressive deadlines and quantifiable metrics can overshadow nuanced technical debt and long-term code health.
Torvalds’ accidental, then deliberate, critique of Musk is a powerful reminder that in the world of serious software engineering, flashy metrics rarely impress the people who actually build the foundations of our digital world. For them, the quality of the code will always speak louder than the quantity.