A single line of code cost $8000 • Hacker News Board

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#291

Post by Izkata » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:19 PM UTC

nsingh2 wrote: post #281

tough wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tauri has been a thing for a while, it baffles me people still choose Electron without a good reason to do so. Also webapps are just great nowadays most OS support install PWA's fairly decently no? ffs

Tauri is not as platform-agnostic as Electron is because it uses different web views depending on the platform. I ran into a few SVG-related problems myself when trying it out for a bit. For example, on Linux, it uses WebKitGTK as the browser engine, which doesn't render the same way Chrome does (which is the web view used on Windows), so multi-platform support is not totally seamless. Using something like Servo as a…

> Tauri is not as platform agnostic as Electron is

Found this a few months ago: https://gifcap.dev/

Screen recording straight from a regular browser window, though it creates GIFs instead of video files. Links to a git repo so you can set it up locally.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#292

Post by pcthrowaway » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:19 PM UTC

mobilemidget wrote: post #167

benwilber0 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes How on earth is a screen recording app 250 megabytes

Or.. Why on earth you need to check for updates 288x per day. It sounds and seems more like 'usage monitoring' rather than being sure that all users have the most recent bug fixes installed. What's wrong with checking for updates upon start once (and cache per day). What critical bugs or fixes could have been issued that warrant 288 update checks.

A 250MB download should be opt-in in the first place

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#293

Post by _cenw » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:20 PM UTC

256_ wrote: post #285

benwilber0 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes How on earth is a screen recording app 250 megabytes

It was probably written by the type of programmers who criticise programmers like me for using "unsafe" languages.

"How can I make this about me and my C/C++ persecution complex?"

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#294

Post by ranger_danger » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:21 PM UTC

tough wrote: post #274

latexr wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I recall, it’s an Electron app. I just checked and the current version of Google Chrome is 635 MB, with its DMG being 224 MB. So yes, it’s insane, but easy to see where the size comes from.

Tauri has been a thing for a while, it baffles me people still choose Electron without a good reason to do so. Also webapps are just great nowadays most OS support install PWA's fairly decently no? ffs

> Also webapps are just great nowadays most OS support install PWA's fairly decently no?

I would say no, and some are actively moving away from PWA support even if they had it before.

Plus, electron et al let you hook into native system APIs whereas a PWA cannot, AFAIK.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#295

Post by pcthrowaway » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:21 PM UTC

abstractspoon wrote: post #98

I find it ludicrous that the developers of an app as insignificant as a screen recorder would think it's necessary to check for updates every 5 minutes. Once a day would surely be sufficient.

> Once a day would surely be sufficient.

Well they might need to rush out a fix to a bug that could be harmful for the user if they don't get it faster.

For example, a bug that causes them to download 250MB every 5 minutes.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#296

Post by surfmike » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:22 PM UTC

Contact a rep at Google, they can probably reverse a good portion of the $8000 as a one-time thing.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#297

Post by ranger_danger » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:22 PM UTC

Hikikomori wrote: post #251

zahlman wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone even has an Internet connection that can reliably download 250MB in 5 minutes. Yes, even in metropolitan areas in developed countries in 2025.

Even doable on very long range ADSL, guess there are still some dialup users.

I struggle to get close to 6mbps on good days... some of us are still stuck on DSL monopolies.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#298

Post by ryandrake » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:23 PM UTC

sombrero_john wrote: post #224

999900000999 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was the promise of "The Cloud". Data centers are big and scary, no body wanted to run their own. The hypothetical cost savings of firing half the IT department was too good to pass up. AWS even offered some credits to get started, first hit's free. Next thing you know your AWS spend is out if control. It just keeps growing and growing and growing. Instead of writing better software, which might slow down develop…

> Instead of writing better software, which might slow down development, just spend more money. Except this is unironically a great value proposition.

We are throwing everything under the bus, including the user's battery, CPU, memory, bandwidth, the company's cloud costs and energy usage, just so developers can crap out software slightly faster.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#299

Post by pcthrowaway » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:25 PM UTC

yojo wrote: post #119

Nition wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While we're listing complaints... 250MB for a screen recorder update?

That’s pretty much the floor for an Electron app. If you’re a small shop or solo dev, it is real hard to justify going native on three platforms when electron gives it for (near) free. And outside of HN, no one seems to blink at a 250MB bundle. There are alternatives like Tauri that use the system browser and allow substantially smaller bundles, but they’re not nearly as mature as Electron, and you will get cross pla…

> And outside of HN, no one seems to blink at a 250MB bundle.

Please, many people connect to the internet via a mobile phone hotspot, at least occasionally.

This bug would likely cause you to go through your entire monthly data in a few hours or less.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#300

Post by o11c » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:30 PM UTC

blitzar wrote: post #99

Lammy wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 5 minute update check interval is usage-reporting in disguise. Way fewer people would turn off a setting labeled “check for updates” than one labeled “report usage statistics”.

never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence

Never contort your reasoning to attribute to incompetence what is much better explained by malice. Especially when politics or money is involved, malice should be the assumed default.