6 ms·
I love that so many people here think they can think about the problem for 10 seconds and come up with a solution that hasn't already been considered a thousand
by gentle 2y ago
I love that so many people here think they can think about the problem for 10 seconds and come up with a solution that hasn't already been considered a thousand times and discarded.
- Grimblewald 2y agoBut have they considered 5 digit numbers :^)
- colimbarna 2y agoI can't believe they haven't started using three digits and an emoji.
- Scoundreller 2y agoNo checksum???
- dayjaby 2y agoThe emoji is the checksum
- throwaway2037 2y agoAgree. This type of article is classic nerd-snipe fodder for the HN masses.
- DidYaWipe 2y agoAny well-written article should anticipate, ask, and answer the obvious questions. For example: Why not use alphanumeric characters? And if the answer isn't known by the sources the writer quotes, the writer should say so.
- layer8 2y agoAnswered in this comment by “hagbard celine” under the article: https://viewfromthewing.com/airlines-are-running-out-of-flight-numbers-and-they-dont-know-what-to-do-about-it/#comment-5878491 https://viewfromthewing.com/airlines-are-running-out-of-flig...
- nailer 2y agoVery obviously: do not display the hexadecimal code to end users.
- bhelkey 2y agoSo now you have three codes, the old code, a new internal and a new external code.
- klyrs 2y agoDon't forget typos
- DaiPlusPlus 2y agoTwo codes. A competently designed system should be able to convert between "internal" and "external codes" using only trivial string manipulation (e.g. no external dependencies, nor any databases to load at runtime; while adding or removing the code type magic-prefix is trivial; and computing/veriftying/concatenating/trimming any check-digits should also be straightforward, like a CC or VIN check-digit. ...basically, copy what Stripe does (except I wish Stripe would announce a far smaller and reasonable length-limit for their Object-Ids instead of handwaving around a vague reference to needing as 255-char database column - because it messes-up all of my RDBMS query-plans' memory grants because it allocates (N rows * 255 bytes) whereas in reality all of my Stripe Object-Ids are well-under 32 chars in length, _le sigh_.
- namibj 2y agoJust set a reasonable limit and set up a column type change for if you ever have it exceeded?
- josu 2y ago>Why not use alphanumeric characters? Someone hardcoded that field 50 years ago and it's impossible to change the type. It would be easier to just abandon planes altogether, and set up a parallel transportation system.
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoI understand that database conversions (especially industry-wide) are hard, but: > It would be easier to just abandon planes altogether, and set up a parallel transportation system. Yeah, that might be overdoing it just a bit.
- kelnos 2y ago> Why not use alphanumeric characters? This suggestion is also obviously trivially discarded: it is safe to assume that many, many, many systems expect only numbers in those fields, and will blow up if they encounter letters.
- ricketyricky 2y ago[dead]
- 1123581321 2y agoStill, the speculation is more interesting than the mockery of it. If someone is interested in the topic and wasn't invited to the airlines' internal discussions, they are necessarily going to repeat some of those internal discussions.
- vasco 2y agoYeah, I really don't understand the point of coming to a commenting website where people comment on stories and not expect comments about how they'd do it. Everyone does it at least in their mind, and the speculation as a group is the most fun about reading the news. What's the point of reading the news if not to muse about "what happens next" or "how we should deal with this" in the story of the humans. Should we sit there going "Welp, I guess someone knows more about this than me". If we took that attitude you'd never speak about anything.
- TeMPOraL 2y agoYou're no fun. Obviously any such 10-second solution is unlikely to work in practice. The interesting part is why, specifically a proposed solution won't work; proposing some and having more knowledgeable commenters shoot them down is a way to map out the complexities of the real problem quickly. It's a very good way to learn.
- ComplexSystems 2y agoThere aren't that many solutions. You can go to 5 digit numbers, or use 4 characters with an expanded alphabet, or do nothing. What other solutions could there possibly be?
- JCharante 2y agoChange the way you use the numbers
- indigoabstract 2y agoYes, programmers typically like to do that. Btw, how about using colors?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- hammadmajid 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
- slightwinder 2y agoIt's because people don't understand that the problem is not finding a solution, but implementing it. This space is simply a mess, much more than even your normal messy IT.
- JCharante 2y agoMy solution: Stop codesharing with marketing flight numbers that are useless. Airlines do perfectly fine selling tickets without having the flight marketed by themselves and they can handle inter-airline agreements without it.
- rhplus 2y agoCustomer behavior is key here. There’s perceived risk with the dreaded “Multiple airlines” option when booking tickets, especially for international flights. No-one wants to find out the hard way that there weren’t agreements or reciprocal status or matching luggage allowances, etc. The code-share is shorthand for “we’re responsible”.
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoIt's also shorthand for "yes, you'll get miles in our plan for this flight".
- JCharante 2y agoThere are so many agreements for crediting frequent flyer miles that while yes it can help reassure people, there is a million more routes that still credit miles without codeshares to the point where it's useless
- JCharante 2y agoIt's safe to assume that if you book on Delta's site then any routings they offer you will have interline agremeent. Let's say you are traveling from Incheon to Atlanta on a flight with a Delta number. Would you go to the Delta desks to check-in? Maybe... is it a real Delta flight or a flight operated by Korean Air but marketed by Delta? I think getting rid of codesharing would make it much easier for travel novices.
- darylteo 2y agoIf you like a similar problem to scratch that itch there is also the 37 dogs problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMxoGqsmk5Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMxoGqsmk5Y - a database whose primary id had a maximum of 6 digits, but the id was encoded as roman numerals.
- david422 2y agoHaha nice, entertaining watch.
- alexpotato 2y agoI think people forget that problems like these have two parts: - a technical solution that is generally somewhat obvious or at least is picking which of 2 or 3 proposed solution makes the most sense - a co-ordination problem that will require hundreds of different entities to agree on timelines, rollout plans etc etc Now, this does happen (Sweden switching traffic side of the road [0] an Y2K) every so often but it's a LOT of work. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H
- dagmx 2y agoIt’s the age old problem with software developers. A problem posited without sufficient solutions is an invitation to them to provide a solution for that problem solving dopamine hit. Nevermind that nobody has asked for such a thing or whether they’re familiar with the problem space themselves.
- alentred 2y agoHaha, yes. There are always assumptions to make or constraints to consider. But they are also often not obvious, so... A quote by Fry from Futurama comes to mind: > Zoidberg: All 6,000 hulls have been breached! > Fry: Oh, the fools! If only they'd built it with 6,001 hulls! When will they learn?
- Cthulhu_ 2y agoObviously, the solution is a blockchain and matching cryptocurrency where miners can generate flight IDs which the operators can then buy off of an exchange. I've already pre-mined all convenient and vanity flight IDs for a smooth launch, each ID will be sold at an automated blockchain auction with prices starting at $1000 each. IDs cannot be reused.
- notfed 2y agoAaaaaaand it's gone.
- alfalfasprout 2y agoYep. Of course there are ton of solutions that seem better at a glance. More digits! Alphanumeric! Problem is decades and decades of software with the assumption of 4 digit flight numbers baked in. My hunch would be an additional airline code would probably be the easiest solution.
- 404mm 2y agoI have one that I bet the airlines didn’t think about: split them init multiple smaller companies and restore competitive market /s