How I replicated an $86M project in 57 lines of code (2017) | Hacker News Reader

How I replicated an $86M project in 57 lines of code (2017)

medium.freecodecamp.org

45 pointspavel_lishin15 comments

What would really be impressive would be a story entitled,"How I sold 57 lines of code for $86M."

The similar question is, I can write zero line codes with Wordpress eCommerce to setup a eCommerce site like Amazon.com, why Jeff Bezos would spent so much money and hired thousands people to develop Amazon.com?

I like how devs forget about non functional requirements.

Even functional requirements... "roll out" is likely to include the cost of setting up staffing, training, compliance, risk and liability assessments, data storage, security, hardware... the list goes on, and on, and on.

He addresses this in a follow-up: https://medium.freecodecamp.org/remember-that-86-million-lic...

A vase to sit on a shelf, or a bucket to use in a well.

This is basically someone asking “why did Amazon spend billions on an ERP system? I did the same over a weekend in excel spreadsheets....”

Or a construction worker saying “I don’t know how the Trump tower cost so much, it’s windows all over and I could put up a window much much cheaper.”

Even if they too just copy pasted open source code and tweaked until they got semi ok results, that still leaves 98% of the actual project to be done. (they likely didn’t though). And why you ask not just copy the code and get it done easily? Well if you are spending millions on all the other fases of the project in the first place, why not increase the budget available for development and have an actual robust solution that integrates with existing systems and lives up to the tons if user requirements and specifications they likely started out with.

This is off topic from the headline.

> Future Applications

> While it’s easy to get caught up in the Orwellian nature of an “always on” network of license plate snitchers, there are many positive applications of this technology.

I don't agree with this. The consequences of constantly being watched and recorded aren't good for humanity. Given the Australian government's penchant for creating laws to spread mass surveillance, I couldn't think of a worse place that could do with this software.

> Imagine a passive system scanning fellow motorists for an abductors car that automatically alerts authorities and family members to their current location and direction.

Sounds like a "Think of the children" kind of argument to me.

These projects are not worth $86 million. These projects only cost that much because the government has unlimited money from the Fed and their only goal is to create jobs; the government doesn't care about efficiency/productivity and the contractor doesn't care either. Nobody got fired for choosing IBM... Despite the fact that IBM has a long history of extremely expensive failed projects. The people who work for these companies learn a lot of bad/innefficient programming habbits because the bar for survival within those companies is below mediocre.

When you have projects that need to achieve immediate scale, it's easy to see how these projects cost a lot of money. And contrary to popular belief, many people in government do care about efficiency and productivity. However, every government agency is constrained by a myriad of laws that the private sector doesn't have to contend with. Many projects require the approval of tax payers, who often don't see the direct value in investing in software as it isn't very tangible. Finally, that's not to say there aren't bad actors in government and the contractors that serve them. But the same is also true for those who operate solely in the private sector as well.

This is why I think that government contracting should be much more limited than it is. Strangely enough, when the money and work comes directly from a department budget it can often be better managed.

Free enterprise could be much more efficient than government, but not when they earn more profits by not being efficient.

I think there's a bug in the getInfo function. You almost certainly want to return the promise from horseman at line 3.

I like the spirit of this article, and it is ludicrous that a project appraisal would be so high for this anyway.

The UK has had vehicle-mounted ANPR for over a decade.

[2017]

you forgot about the lawyers.

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