Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site • Hacker News Board

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#21

Post by mag487 » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:51 AM UTC

jussij wrote: post #12

conover wrote: post #2

That's a staggering amount of code. Nearly unbelievable. To put that in perspective, Windows XP was 45 million lines of code[0]. [0] https://m.facebook.com/windows/posts/155741344475532

My guess is they're counting code from existing packages used to create the site. So for example, if they used Java, that line count is including the lines of code found in the JDK. I see no other way of getting to such a large number.

It's hard to imagine that even those could total more than a small fraction of the purported 500 MLOC. The JDK is only a few million lines of code.

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#22

Post by joeblau » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:52 AM UTC

jussij wrote: post #12

conover wrote: post #2

That's a staggering amount of code. Nearly unbelievable. To put that in perspective, Windows XP was 45 million lines of code[0]. [0] https://m.facebook.com/windows/posts/155741344475532

My guess is they're counting code from existing packages used to create the site. So for example, if they used Java, that line count is including the lines of code found in the JDK. I see no other way of getting to such a large number.

What was the site written in?

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#23

Post by bluefinity » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:53 AM UTC

conover wrote: post #2

That's a staggering amount of code. Nearly unbelievable. To put that in perspective, Windows XP was 45 million lines of code[0]. [0] https://m.facebook.com/windows/posts/155741344475532

Somewhat surprisingly, Visual Studio 2012 has 50 million lines of code. [0]

It's kind of weird to think that VS 2012 has more lines of code than Windows XP.

[0]: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2012/06/20/the-...

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#24

Post by DigitalSea » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:55 AM UTC

Sounds like a load of crap to me. Seriously, 500 million lines of code? I bet not even mission-critical code written to power NASA spacecraft and satellites are anywhere near that length.

I propose they give the project to the HN community, divide up the $400 million figure amongst the participants and give us a weekend and I bet we'll have more to show than that of the so-called developers the government hired.

I am not underestimating the complexity of such a site, but seriously, it's not like it hasn't been done elsewhere to a degree. if I can do Internet banking, the a site for providing healthcare can be built a lot easier. They're both of similar scale and security requirements I would imagine.

This site seems like the greatest scam ever perpetuated. I bet the contractors are laughing themselves to the bank literally as we speak. Even though it's bad publicity, money is a higher priority than credibility for some businesses out there it would seem. Is it any wonder people don't trust the government? They can't even hire competent people to build them a website. This seems to be a recurring theme for local councils and governments elsewhere as well, so it's not just the US this is happening.

People need to get mad about this. That's $400 million dollars that could have been invested elsewhere like medical research, charities, food programs, rehabilitation for the homeless... A $400 million mistake has been made, and another $400 million will probably be spent before it's even ready.

What a waste of money.

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#25

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:56 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#26

Post by unreal37 » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:56 AM UTC

There's no way that's true.

No possible way. For a website. Did they write their own operating system from scratch? And database?

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#27

Post by mattdeboard » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:56 AM UTC

I... dunno guys. Multiple disparate systems designed by separate government contractors who no doubt pumped up their work estimates tutu get even bigger contracts. Remember this is a $400 mil project. Maybe I spent too long in the government but this doesn't seem unrealistic to me.

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#28

Post by DigitalJack » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:57 AM UTC

Stratoscope wrote: post #15

> On Monday, Mr. Obama will host a Rose Garden event with people who have successfully enrolled in the health care exchanges. It's great that they can all fit in the Rose Garden!

I'm pretty sure they'd all fit in my basement.

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#29

Post by hrabago » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:58 AM UTC

jussij wrote: post #17

jlgreco wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first thought was the exact opposite.

Maybe half the developers were coding while the other half were designing ;)

Or half the developers were coding yet everyone was designing.

Re: Contractors See Weeks of Work on Health Site

#30

Post by EdgarVerona » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 4:59 AM UTC

Yeah, after reading that article, I get the very strong feeling that these "federal consultants" are in for a second round of greedy-greedy-grabfest. They're throwing insane sounding numbers out there so that they can justify egregious compensation. Someone needs to call these people out on their bluff, there is no way that this terrible site is even close to the LoC numbers they're throwing out there.

I'm so sick of seeing contractors fleece our government (and by extent, us) by pulling the wool over the eyes of those who don't know any better and making sweetheart arrangements.