
How I replicated an $86M project in 57 lines of code (2017) - pavel_lishin
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-i-replicated-an-86-million-project-in-57-lines-of-code-277031330ee9
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OldSchool
What would really be impressive would be a story entitled,"How I sold 57 lines
of code for $86M."

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taobility
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?

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loriverkutya
I like how devs forget about non functional requirements.

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richmarr
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.

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tomtimtall
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.

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wtmt
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.

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jondubois
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.

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exotree
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.

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

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yakshaving_jgt
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.

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unkoman
[2017]

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conroydave
you forgot about the lawyers.

