title: How much code can a programmer be intimately familiar with?
body: <p>Are there any statistics for this? I realize it must vary from person to person, but it seems like there should be a general average.</p>
  
  <p>The reason I ask is that the company I contract for has multiple software products, totaling ~75,000 lines of code - and they seemed disappointed and shocked when they ask me a question about a specific portion that I don't immediately know the answer to (I am the only programmer they have, and did not author the majority of the systems) They think I should just know it all from memory. So I wanted something like a statistic to show them that an average programmer couldn't possibly have all that in his head at one time. Or should I?</p>