DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Codebase in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse
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I am a programmer but I'm not sure why people think Java is suited for anything, especially a system so sensitive to bugs. It's so hard to write high quality readable code in Java. Everything is way more clunky, and verbose than it needs to be.
Some major improvements were made with versions 17+ but still, it feels like walking through mud.
It's a language from the 1990s for the 1990s.
Btw the performance is actually pretty good in Java, the old reputation for slowness is entirely undeserved today.
If it has to be JVM, then Kotlin. Java done properly.
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My company actually wrote their flagship software in COBOL starting in the 80s, and we're only now six years into rewriting everything in a more modern language with probably four years to go.
I can't imagine trying to start such a project like rewriting all of Social Security and thinking it will take months. You have to be a special kind of fatuous to unironically think that.
Similarly, my company are 4 years into a rewrite of a cobol mainframe system much simpler than Social Security. Which was going to "take a year" there's at least 5 years left.
I know the UK benefits system took well over 12 years to build with an programming workforce of over 2000 and I imagine it's simpler having to support a population one fifth the size of the US.
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It's when people try to have LLM's generate code and then try to assemble the pieces produced into semi-functional, usually really bad, software I think.
And I think "vibe" means that they have no experience with programming so they can't read the code they copy.
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Months? I don't k ow how to code, and even I know that's impossible.
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They are trying to break the government beyond all repair. At that point they'll say it's the Democrats that broke it.
Their cult members will swallow the lie hook line and sinker, and continue to keep them in power. (Side note, this will be made easier by gutting all election oversight as part of the package.)
Meanwhile, all that tax money we paid into Social Security, SNAP, Medicaid and Medicare, Unemployment insurance... basically any program meant to help people, will flow directly into billionaire's pockets.
Idk I think these old people will riot tbh
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I'm less than a decade from taking my SS early. I have already downloaded my SS deduction tables from their website in anticipation of them doing something this stupid. "Oh.. you think you are eligible for earned benefits? We can't seem to locate your contribution history... so sorry for you."
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Ah yes, a classic tale...
"We're going to take this perfectly efficient and functional COBOL code base and rewrite it in Java! And we'll do it in a few months!"
So many more competent people and organizations than them have already tried this and spectacularly crashed and burned. There's are literal case studies on these types of failed endeavors.
I bet they'll do it in Waterfall too.
It's interesting. If they use Grok, this could well be the deathknell for vibe programming (at least for now). It's just fucking traffic that their hubris will cause grief and pain to do many Americans - and cost the lives of more than a few.
Bold of you to assume they'll use Java and not some obscure language picked based on the need to pad their resumes.
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Months? I don't k ow how to code, and even I know that's impossible.
you know they will make chatGPT do it and then not verify.
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you know they will make chatGPT do it and then not verify.
Vibe Coding. I can't see a way for this to go wrong...
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How many bugs? How will they secretly siphon money to their accounts? How much access will the Russians have? Who's gonna get discriminated against?
It rounds to the nearest penny and the fractions of pennies that get cut off are used to buy Bitcoin for Big Balls.
No one will even notice.
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you know they will make chatGPT do it and then not verify.
They will cross-check with Grok.
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I'm less than a decade from taking my SS early. I have already downloaded my SS deduction tables from their website in anticipation of them doing something this stupid. "Oh.. you think you are eligible for earned benefits? We can't seem to locate your contribution history... so sorry for you."
how do you do this? probably good for all of us to know
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Reminds me of that thing Lex Luthor did where he sponged off rounding errors in financial transactions
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Stupid term for when people who don't know how to program ask AI to generate code for them which they have no expertise to actually validate.
The best commercial models did dumb stuff yesterday and I bet they'll still do dumb stuff tomorrow
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how do you do this? probably good for all of us to know
log in to ssa.gov
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You mean Grok, right?
Grok has said disparaging things about Elon Musk so I’m assuming it’s going to be disappeared to El Salvador soon.
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Australian here.
They are robbing you
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Probably a mix of Z systems, that stuff goes back 20-odd years, and even then older code can still run on new Z systems which is something IBM brags about.
Mainframes aren't old they're just niche technology, and that includes enterprise Java software. -
My company actually wrote their flagship software in COBOL starting in the 80s, and we're only now six years into rewriting everything in a more modern language with probably four years to go.
I can't imagine trying to start such a project like rewriting all of Social Security and thinking it will take months. You have to be a special kind of fatuous to unironically think that.
He can't be this delusional, right? It is almost like he is just trying to inflict damage?
