I think the great problem of our age is that UAT is nothing like production.
The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
181–190 of 399 posts
Re: The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
60k for an app that runs results collections for the Iowa Democratic Caucus sounds absurdly low. By comparison, just to get an app like that assessed for security issues --- and my assumption is that this is not an especially complicated app --- you'd already in the neighborhood of 20k.
Why they can't just do a https website with login is beyond me. Why an App? We all know there's nothing in it but boilerplate.
By being an app, they can easily advise the user "download it in advance and register in advance" by that verify they have it installed. Then they can make sure the app will work to collect the data in case of wifi/mobile network issues so that the user enters the data on the caucus site and if that building for whatever reason has no network go outside to upload.
Making sure that average Joe preloads a webapp and to make sure it will be configured a day later isn't easy.
Properly syncing from the web app - as discussed in these threads - adds complexity though.
Re: The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any database should work just fine for this application. 1678 precincts. 11 candidates. 2 rounds. That's 37 thousand records to fully represent everything.
With CouchDB you could have all that data in 1678 human readable files. Or 1678 password protected databases with one or more human readable files in them and let CouchDB handle user auth, which CouchDB makes really easy. You could do the same thing with a simple flat file database using directories and files and system level user access, and it'd be very fast too. This is pretty much the kind of thing CouchDB is des…
I have a feeling you haven't used SQL databases very often.
This is exactly the kind of thing that SQL database is shine at and noSQL databases do poorly.
Re: The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey, I'm really glad you asked, and I'm happy to share. The reason that most people start companies in politics is because they have strong political leanings. You do it because you believe strongly in something or someone and want to support it, even if it pays less or sucks. Even if you wanted to cross the aisle, it would be hard. If you work for Democrats, Republicans will not work with you. If you work for Republ…
So when Republicans and Democrats walk from the Capitol to their respective fundraising call centers, is your claim that that there is a different software stack in each building to handle the call automation? I have no idea how to find out whether those tech stacks are indeed different. But if someone knows the answer I'd definitely find it instructive.
AFAIK the fundraising done by actual elected officials is not highly automated, but tools for phone banking, canvassing, and that sort of organizing are definitely partisan (see for example https://act.ngpvan.com/paid-phones on the Dem side).
Re: The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
#185I started a company that was asked to write a proposal to make what became the app that failed last night. I declined because it was outside of our core skillset. You can read my prior comments or look at my profile to validate this. If you want my perspective as someone who started a Democratic software company, you should keep reading. This app emerged from a mandate to make the caucus more accessible and transpare…
I don't know whether I heard correctly or if the number was accurate, but I heard someone throw out $60k as the amount paid for the app development this morning on the radio. That sounds like a lot of money to a lay-person, but assuming $100/hr, which seems like at least a reasonable ballpark rate, that breaks down to 600 man-hours, or 15 man-weeks. That is a very tight deadline to turn out a critical app like this.…
$60K would probably be enough to create a landline boiler room phone bank staffed with volunteers to answer the phones from people reporting results. It wouldn't have the "wow" factor, but it would be a lot more secure.
Re: The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
So if we are interested in helping the DNC improve their software what do you think we should do? Is there a route for something like 18F for the DNC?
The Democratic Party must be destroyed to save it. This is a material manifestation of underlying shit, just a symptom at several degrees of remove from any more-than-superficial cause. The only thing that could conceivably provide a systematic opening to fix things (ie, not just fixing specific things, after they've become apparent, because they've already catastrophically failed), in the realm of badly-written scie…
...ratfucked...
If they ratfuck him this time anywhere near as bad as they did last time, he'll run independent. In that case, Trump will win even more easily than I've been expecting since February 2017. Of course, Trump has a sort of death wish, so he could invade Canada or something and then Bernie would win without owing anything to the other face of the status quo party.
The most recent results (at 62% reporting, somehow not including urban areas, for many hours now) show Bernie winning the popular vote but trailing in convention votes. I hope I'll hear Democrats complaining about the Electoral College again soon...
Re: The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
#187I blame Russia.
Re: The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any database should work just fine for this application. 1678 precincts. 11 candidates. 2 rounds. That's 37 thousand records to fully represent everything.
With CouchDB you could have all that data in 1678 human readable files. Or 1678 password protected databases with one or more human readable files in them and let CouchDB handle user auth, which CouchDB makes really easy. You could do the same thing with a simple flat file database using directories and files and system level user access, and it'd be very fast too. This is pretty much the kind of thing CouchDB is des…
So...
What happens when two people share authentication (which will happen!) and access the app at the same time. Maybe you are going to try and implement file-locking, yourself, badly?
SQL has literally been used for this kind of app since the 1980s. It's simple to use, and easy to find developers who use it.
Re: The Shadow Inc. app that failed in Iowa last night
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm kind of amazed at how it failed. 1,681 precincts in Iowa - that data could fit on a floppy disk.
IKR? And for all options they may end up with, they chose an APP. WHY? Does laptop not exist anymore? Does phones lack the ability to open webpages anymore? Hasn't logging in been one of the things we perfected over 30 years?
Yes, if you want to have a small tool for volunteers without logistics of shipping machines, laptops don't exist anymore. Developing desktop software for such purpose is way more complex, especially when considering updates etc. Which Windows version are you targeting? And Mac? What libraries you need?
For app development, even if for two platforms (Android and iOS) it is a lot simpler these days, than desktop.