Wait for the $1M+ overhaul when they need to open a third lane!
An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
11–20 of 99 posts
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#12I actually have a solution that costs exactly $0.01, per employee. It also works on any platform.
If you're alluding to a penny, I think you'll find that they cost more that $0.01. Probably a far better example wasteful government procurement than this app.
" Probably a far better example wasteful government procurement than this app."
Not really. If you were flipping the penny to get heads or tails and lost it, you could easily replace that penny with a coin, a washer, a stick from outside, a book...hundreds of things already around your home or office, many with no use or value. You can't look around you and find a replacement for the penny as a currency.
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gotta be #responsive
Exactly! My first attempt was just 10 lines of HTML code, but it was a real pain to do the vertical centering on iOS. So I tried a Bootstrap template, saw that even they didn't do the centering on iOS, but was too lazy to change it back.
Modern iOS should support flexbox, which should get you what you want with a few lines of CSS. http://caniuse.com/#feat=flexbox
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#14I get that it's trying to be funny, but is it really no longer possible to create a website with a single arrow that doesn't have to pull down all this cruft ? window.jQuery || document.write(' ')
13. Rule of Economy: Programming time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time.
15. Rule of Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it.[1]
[1] https://www.slingcode.com/ref/ProgrammingPhilosophies.pdf
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're alluding to a penny, I think you'll find that they cost more that $0.01. Probably a far better example wasteful government procurement than this app.
" Probably a far better example wasteful government procurement than this app." Not really. If you were flipping the penny to get heads or tails and lost it, you could easily replace that penny with a coin, a washer, a stick from outside, a book...hundreds of things already around your home or office, many with no use or value. You can't look around you and find a replacement for the penny as a currency.
I just took a look around myself. I found a credit card.
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#16http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/tsa-spent-47000-o... "According to Mashable, the Transportation Security Administration apparently spent $47,000 on an app that is essentially a random number generator—it was briefly used to assign travelers to left or right lanes at airports. As the website reported: “The app was used by TSA agents to randomly assign passengers to different pre-check lines as part of a now…
Such an app is widely viewed to be an extremely simple program to write.
Writing the app, as anyone who has done any consulting work would know, is often the easiest, least time-intensive part of a project. Anyone saying to themselves, "$47K? I could do it in ten lines of code!" should stick to coding and let the contract procurement folks do their job.
(I'm merely the messenger; hate-game disclaimers apply.)
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#17I have a cheaper alternative. Get rid of TSA altogether. Travelling was a whole heck of a lot more fun in 1975. Since then it's been overreaction upon overreaction. Nobody is going to hijack a plane in this day and age because of the simple fact that the passengers will immediately revolt.
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#18http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/tsa-spent-47000-o... "According to Mashable, the Transportation Security Administration apparently spent $47,000 on an app that is essentially a random number generator—it was briefly used to assign travelers to left or right lanes at airports. As the website reported: “The app was used by TSA agents to randomly assign passengers to different pre-check lines as part of a now…
Gotta pay the testers, trainers, contracts team, and sales commission.
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#19I get that it's trying to be funny, but is it really no longer possible to create a website with a single arrow that doesn't have to pull down all this cruft ? window.jQuery || document.write(' ')
Yes.
But it will hurt your career. How will people know if you keep up with modern development techniques?
Re: An opensource alternative for the TSA’s $300k line assistant
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gotta be #responsive
Exactly! My first attempt was just 10 lines of HTML code, but it was a real pain to do the vertical centering on iOS. So I tried a Bootstrap template, saw that even they didn't do the centering on iOS, but was too lazy to change it back.