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

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#91

Post by sixtyj » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:19 PM UTC

spaqin wrote: post #11

I would also put into question if you _really_ need to check for updates every 5 minutes. Once per startup is already enough, and if you're concerned about users who leave it on for days, it could easily be daily or even less often.

Check for updates every 5 minutes is a bug itself ;)

It is sort of fun (for $8,000) as it was “just” a screenshotter, but imagine this with bank app or any other heavily installed app.

All cloud providers should have alerts for excessive use of network by default. And they should ask developers if they really want to turn alerts off.

I remember Mapbox app that cost much more, just because provider did charge by months… and it was a great dispute who’s fault it was…

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#92

Post by stevage » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:21 PM UTC

ghurtado wrote: post #23

saretup wrote: post #3

Not to mention the cost users paid to download 250 MB every 5 minutes.

It seems a bit self centered to make their lost $8000 the focus of the article. The title should have been: "how a single line of code cost our users probably more than $8000"

Totally. I live in a place where many (most?) ISP plans have limited monthly downloads. I'd be so pissed off if my monthly allowance was blown by this series of boneheaded decisions.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#93

Post by stevage » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:22 PM UTC

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #27

I read that as "A single line of code costs $8000" which, from the comments seems like a few others had the same thought. Reading the article it is not costs and the original title is "One line of code that did cost $8,000", so as some others have pointed out it is a bug that cost $8000.

I was expecting it to be about a good line of code that cost $8,000 in development time to write, which might be an interesting story.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#94

Post by misiek08 » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:23 PM UTC

So it is 2PB less of bytes written lifetimes on users disks? Interesting to count that.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#95

Post by stevage » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:24 PM UTC

indrex wrote: post #70

Plenty of (valid) criticism in the comments, but I appreciate the developer for publishing it.

I feel a bit iffy about turning the shitty experience you imposed on your users into content for your blog.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#96

Post by albert_e » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:26 PM UTC

What about the bandwidth burned needlessly for thousands of users on their data plans.

At some scale such careless mistakes are going to create real effects for all users of internet through congestion as well.

If this was not a $8000 mistake but was somehow covered by a free tier or other plan from Google Cloud, would they still have considered it a serious bug and fixed it as promptly?

How many such poor designs are out there generating traffic and draining common resources.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#97

Post by watusername » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:28 PM UTC

Needs (2023) in the title.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#98

Post by abstractspoon » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:31 PM UTC

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.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#99

Post by blitzar » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:33 PM UTC

Lammy wrote: post #22

spaqin wrote: post #11

I would also put into question if you _really_ need to check for updates every 5 minutes. Once per startup is already enough, and if you're concerned about users who leave it on for days, it could easily be daily or even less often.

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

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#100

Post by jmull » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:35 PM UTC

I'm pretty conservative about adopting third-party libraries (due to the long-term issues each one has the potential to cause), but an app updater is probably worth it.

It's just tricky, basically one fat edge case, and a critical part of your recovery plan in case of serious bugs in your app.

(This bug isn't the only problem with their home-grown updater. Checking every 5 min is just insane. Kinda tells me they aren't thinking much about it.)