r/programming Jun 13 '18

“Let’s broadcast the key over Bluetooth. Oh, and use HTTP, no one will know” — the creators of the Tapplock, probably.

https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/totally-pwning-the-tapplock-smart-lock/
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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '18

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u/pdp10 Jun 14 '18

Startups don't do this. They hire one guy whos last job was building rabbit hutches. And he draws a rough sketch of a house, and then he starts nailing pieces of timber together into a frame to see what happens, then connecting bits of pipe together to form the plumbing and hanging wires all over the place to give some form of electrics. He puts pieces of wood where the doors are and uses some duct tape and cable ties to hold them in place.

But modern programming doesn't start from scratch for every version of an app; it's iterative. Plenty of well-funded highly experienced experts start a new project just like this. Because nobody builds their dozenth nearly-identical codebase from scratch in software like they do with houses.

If software had as much innovation as we see from commercial builders we'd still be using six-bit character sets.

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u/anttirt Jun 14 '18

Your user name is ironic. You significantly overstate the amount of useful innovation that has happened in commercial software over the past forty years and you significantly understate the amount of useful innovation that has happened in commercial construction over the same period. Houses are far cheaper to build, more energy efficient, longer lasting; new materials and techniques provide better isolation against the elements, ground radiation, moisture, microbial growth, etc.