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Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

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Re: Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

#11

Post by wenc »

Maybe not programmers alone, but programmers working together with business/finance/economics folks:

How do we help small businesses weather this?

Gift cards have been suggested, and they work for some scalable businesses, but not non-scalable ones with finite capacity. Barbershops for instance have a finite number of appointment slots, so when people redeem their gift cards in the future, they lose future income.

The question is: how do we creatively come up with a form of an business/economic model that will help consumers help small businesses stay afloat and sustainably ramp back up in the future?

Re: Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

#13

Post by danbolt »

If you’re eating out or getting food delivered by a courier, tip extra if you can.

Food service workers are exposed to many more people and typically lack the salary/benefits programmers get. If they get infected by the virus or laid off from economic slowdown the extra money will help them the most.

Re: Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

#14

Post by qmmmur »

tmpz22 wrote: post #7

Realize this is a non-technical problem that won't be solved by an App with location tracking and ad-based monetization model... Follow the CDC advice, wash your hands, social distancing, encouraging smart policies at your company. Avoid contact with the elderly and stop thinking you're so smart surely YOU'RE the one who's going to solve this problem (with your magical skillset to build CRUD apps).

Yeah the influx of mediocre web apps targeted at self isolation has been noticeable. It makes me kind of sad to think that the majority of people are essentially web developer monkeys and a lot of the interesting discussion around programming is getting lost in that noise.

Re: Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

#15

Post by wenc »

It has also been suggested to me that some elderly/disadvantaged folks don't have devices/Internet connectivity/tech savvy in order to be able to do remote anything. (some grandmas still attend religious services or community groups in person because they can't or don't know how to do it online)

Ideally their kids or caregivers could help with this, but not everyone is tech savvy. There could be an opportunity here -- matching tech-savvy folks with these folks. The trick is how to do it without personal contact.

Re: Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

#16

Post by pvaldes »

Keep a distance of 5 parsecs minimum from your favourite holy cows in computer science definitely would help. I understand that is difficult not jumping over they at sight, but some are fragile (some are even valuable).

On the other hand, maybe your old computer science teacher would appreciate a few kind words and some remote conversation online.

> "Due to Covid-19, the talks in Spain will not occur on the dates previously planned"

Rresspuista correcta, Señor Bond...

Re: Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

#18

Post by rotterdamdev »

tmpz22 wrote: post #7

Realize this is a non-technical problem that won't be solved by an App with location tracking and ad-based monetization model... Follow the CDC advice, wash your hands, social distancing, encouraging smart policies at your company. Avoid contact with the elderly and stop thinking you're so smart surely YOU'RE the one who's going to solve this problem (with your magical skillset to build CRUD apps).

This. Your skills are not applicable here, and you Highest Paid Opinion on the matter is of no value. Stay on your ass, shut the door and work from home.

Re: Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

#19

Post by j88439h84 »

tmpz22 wrote: post #7

Realize this is a non-technical problem that won't be solved by an App with location tracking and ad-based monetization model... Follow the CDC advice, wash your hands, social distancing, encouraging smart policies at your company. Avoid contact with the elderly and stop thinking you're so smart surely YOU'RE the one who's going to solve this problem (with your magical skillset to build CRUD apps).

If there's anything that web devs are good at it's making it convenient to stay alone at home.

No need to minimize the value of people's skills.

Re: Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus?

#20

Post by guidovranken »

With so many people in lockdown, the extent to which we depend on the internet has probably never been so large, so the last thing we need is a global internet outage. A wormable vulnerability spreading through operating systems, web servers or web frameworks (to name a few) could put a serious strain on society, to put it lightly. Also less complex attacks like denial-of-service vectors in major internet software could have debilitating effects right now if targeted against critical institutions like hospitals.

Everyone who can write code can read code and find bugs. The projects that are in scope for the Google patch rewards program are a good starting point: https://www.google.com/about/appsecurity/patch-rewards/

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