[utopiah]

wow... so much yak shaving, including priceless bits like "sat with ChatGPT for a bit [...] we came up with OurCar" (I mean... how original is that, clearly powerful datacenters computing over a dump of the Internet was needed), I'm impressed.

All this to avoid doing one subtraction (km before, km now) then multiplication (result times average litter/km) in your head.

That's a LOT of effort to be lazy.

[jeroenhd]

The log for "who took the car for how long when and did they fill it up" seems to be much more relevant.

Nothing a notebook and a pencil can't fix, of course, but an app is more fun.

I don't think it's laziness, I think it's an excuse to do a personal hobby project. Makes perfect sense to me.

[chabad360]

This is very true, speeding tickets and parking tickets become very annoying to trackdown otherwise.

[utopiah]

That's very risky, I imagine if someone did an infraction and they are unstrustworthy they will not log in the system. It only works if people want to collaborate.

[utopiah]

> an excuse to do a personal hobby project.

Of course, and I do things like that too. I didn't mean to be critical only to give back some perspective precisely when it's NOT about learning.

[utopiah]

FWIW if I were to do this I'd do

echo <input id=kmbefore><input id=kmafter onleave='alert( (kmafter.value - kmbefore.value) * priceperlitterperkm )'>

> index.html to make it available to anyone, Worldwide, for free!

For the fancy version I'd make priceperlitterperkm URL parameter to make it work not just for my area. But that's like an entire additional like of code.

My point being... I'd make a Web page, on app, no deployment, no tracking.

[utopiah]

PS : echo "blabla" > index.html is actually becoming my new World reaching publishing method. I do have a home server with a Web server. I connect to it via ssh keys... so

ssh homeserver 'echo hi >> /var/www/self-published/index.html' and voila. I'll probably share my gist this way from the CLI.

ssh homeserver "echo '$(ls)' >> /var/www/self-published/index.html" if I want to run a command locally first, not on homeserver (notice the " vs ').

[utopiah]

Bonus : ssh homeserver -t 'vi /var/www/self-published/index.html' for manual adjustments.

[darkwater]

  echo <input id=kmbefore><input id=kmafter onleave='alert( (kmafter.value - kmbefore.value) * priceperlitterperkm )'>

 > index.html to make it available to anyone, Worldwide, for free!

You are conveniently leaving out that you already must have:

* a server running 24/7 on the internet, paid for each month

* purchased, setup and keep paying every year a domain name

* configured a web server in that server, ideally with automated SSL certificate issue and renewal

[e12e]

That, or know that https://neocities.org/ exists.

[utopiah]

Well yes I'm indeed assuming that you have :

- a place with electricity

- an Internet connection

- a computer, no matter how small (it can literally be a-cig)

which isn't true for literally every one but clearly for OP was.

You don't need a server in the cloud though, like I said a home server is enough.

[echoangle]

Or just use GitHub pages.

[NotMichaelBay]

The article mentions that was proposed and no one wanted to do it.

Also, alerts are terrible UX. At least put some effort into your example.

[utopiah]

My point was precisely that no effort was needed to be usable, not that it was perfect. It's taking me longer to argue with you than making it. Again that was the point. We can endlessly make it slightly better... but then we forget why we did this in the first place, namely basic arithmetic for a dozen of people.

[bartvk]

My ex isn't good with numbers but nevertheless she has a master in education. She has helped many, many children with learning deficiencies. For lots of people, the math is a significant barrier.

[utopiah]

Very true, I don't want to presume of people ability.

I do believe though that being able to do a subtraction and a multiplication, even if both roughly approximated, for an adult in our current societies (as in not living like an hermit in the woods) is a very useful skill, even if just not get scammed while going shopping or to know how many items one can buy.

Again this isn't reciting the first 100 digits or Pi or doing (12345-12158) * 0.3223 in your head in .1s, rather it's about (~12300-12100) * .3 and knowing you should put about ~20 bucks in, not 1 buck nor 100, and if you want to be "safe" or "kind" to others you put 30 bucks, a very safe upper bound and be done with it.

OK maybe the 1st time you have to write it down. Maybe you even put your phone out and use the calculator but it should after a couple of times become pretty straightforward.

edit: if you don't have dyscalculia I think it's worth couple of seconds in your life because the ability does improve with practice and it's helpful in plenty of places.

[bartvk]

Agreed, you will get screwed some day if you aren't able to make simple calculations by heart.

[chabad360]

Haha, that's certainly one way to see it. I really enjoyed making the app, so it was less about laziness more about an itchy trigger finger.

[utopiah]

The process is the point, not the outcome. I have no doubt you had fun as I do "silly" things like that. Thanks for sharing.