The People's Code • Hacker News Board

Re: The People's Code

#11

Post by _7fvc » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 1:44 AM UTC

I suggest having a search feature across all repositories.

Re: The People's Code

#12

Post by ben_jones » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 1:50 AM UTC

kensai wrote: post #3

"The Federal Source Code Policy is designed to support reuse and public access to custom-developed Federal source code. It requires new custom-developed source code developed specifically by or for the Federal Government to be made available for sharing and re-use across all Federal agencies. It also includes an Open Source Pilot Program that requires agencies to release at least 20% of new custom-developed Federal s…

Doesn't 20% seem a bit pedantic? I feel like if you throw a requirement like that into a large bureaucracy only bull shit will come out. Like an "Open source web interface" where only the CSS is posted...

Re: The People's Code

#13

Post by matthjensen » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 2:00 AM UTC

I wonder how they will determine which open source projects are included at code.gov. For instance, I contribute to a few projects that are used within government for determining the economic impacts of fiscal policy, and the code is in the public domain. I'd love for them to be included at code.gov, but I'm not sure whether they meet the criteria.

Re: The People's Code

#14

Post by initram » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 2:02 AM UTC

They already have some Swift projects [0], which I think is kind of cool. Not sure I would want to use code named "Bro" or "Conman" though. lol.

[0] https://code.gov/#/explore-code/agencies/DOL [1] https://code.gov/#/explore-code/agencies/DOE

Re: The People's Code

#15

Post by methodin » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 2:03 AM UTC

joshdotsmith wrote: post #10

random_rr wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20% is a LOT! Consider the amount of work it takes to open-source things. It's a huge step forward.

What do you think takes the most effort to make these projects open source? If this were the policy for all new projects, why would that be difficult?

I can only imagine the nightmare attempting to explain to non-tech folks why it's good to give away the code they are writing.

Re: The People's Code

#16

Post by desdiv » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 2:05 AM UTC

kensai wrote: post #3

"The Federal Source Code Policy is designed to support reuse and public access to custom-developed Federal source code. It requires new custom-developed source code developed specifically by or for the Federal Government to be made available for sharing and re-use across all Federal agencies. It also includes an Open Source Pilot Program that requires agencies to release at least 20% of new custom-developed Federal s…

I agree that 20% is too little, considering that works by the federal government are supposed to be in automatic public domain[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_work_by_th...

Re: The People's Code

#17

Post by npiazza83 » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 2:08 AM UTC

former_govt wrote: post #7

I admire the work that 18F is doing, and live in the DC area, even contracted for the government early in my career -- but I can never go back. I just fundamentally disagree with the security clearance apparatus is in place and never want to subject myself to that again. Especially when purely private companies pay more and don't care what you do in your personal time. Working for the government felt like being a chi…

Thank you! I didn't have the words to express it but that is it precisely. It is infantalizing in a way that makes ball pits and arcades in startup culture seem tame

Re: The People's Code

#18

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 2:08 AM UTC

former_govt wrote: post #7

I admire the work that 18F is doing, and live in the DC area, even contracted for the government early in my career -- but I can never go back. I just fundamentally disagree with the security clearance apparatus is in place and never want to subject myself to that again. Especially when purely private companies pay more and don't care what you do in your personal time. Working for the government felt like being a chi…

[deleted]

Re: The People's Code

#19

Post by tommynicholas » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 2:10 AM UTC

If there's one thing that deserves a federal massive budget, it's this. If laws and regulations can be understood easily by software, we would remove so many problems the government creates. Complexity would be easier to manage, but also transparency would inherently breed simplicity.

Re: The People's Code

#20

Post by joshdotsmith » Fri, Nov 04, 2016, 2:12 AM UTC

methodin wrote: post #15

joshdotsmith wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think takes the most effort to make these projects open source? If this were the policy for all new projects, why would that be difficult?

I can only imagine the nightmare attempting to explain to non-tech folks why it's good to give away the code they are writing.

We give away the laws we write. In fact, the government provides an awful lot of services. If the taxpayer paid for it, the taxpayer should certainly be able to own it. I've never personally found it difficult to explain that to non-technical people.