WH40K App Updated

[Arkhanist]

So I'm currently watching a video on youtube where someone decompiled the app and analyzed it.

Let's just say it's worse under the surface. Everything written in plaintext, no frameworks (so they have to code the app twice for Android and iOS for example), no error catching and so on and on.

 

BIG Yikes. There are reasons to not use a framework when performance is absolutely critical, but it's a huge red flag for an app like this, particularly when it's intended to be cross-platform. It means you're wasting a lot of time re-inventing the wheel, and usually badly. Lack of error catching is also a massive sin, and again shows bad design practice. It also means testing the code so changes don't introduce new bugs is really, really hard. Not caching the images, the pdf rules, plus the lack of UX design for viewing the data, it definitely reeks of inexperienced developers without good guidance.

 

I'm actually really concerned now about the data security for the new 'my warhammer' if that's their standards.

 

For non-coders, it's like when you get a new kitchen, but none of the joints fit, rough finish all over, they've left mess everywhere, there's new unexplained holes in the walls and they didn't fix the old dodgy pipework - you just know they left the novice to do it or just didn't care, and were rushing to get out the door.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Arkhanist

[Nova_Dew]

 

So I'm currently watching a video on youtube where someone decompiled the app and analyzed it.

Let's just say it's worse under the surface. Everything written in plaintext, no frameworks (so they have to code the app twice for Android and iOS for example), no error catching and so on and on.

 

BIG Yikes. There are reasons to not use a framework when performance is absolutely critical, but it's a huge red flag for an app like this, particularly when it's intended to be cross-platform. It means you're wasting a lot of time re-inventing the wheel, and usually badly. Lack of error catching is also a massive sin, and again shows bad design practice. It also means testing the code so changes don't introduce new bugs is really, really hard. Not caching the images, the pdf rules, plus the lack of UX design for viewing the data, it definitely reeks of inexperienced developers without good guidance.

 

I'm actually really concerned now about the data security for the new 'my warhammer' if that's their standards.

 

For non-coders, it's like when you get a new kitchen, but none of the joints fit, rough finish all over, they've left mess everywhere, there's new unexplained holes in the walls and they didn't fix the old dodgy pipework - you just know they left the novice to do it or just didn't care, and were rushing to get out the door.

 

 

Correct me if i'm wrong but were we not promised this app for 8th edition when that landed, if so not only is it badly implemented but also 3 years late if im not imagining that we were promised an 8th edition app if it is my imagination ignore this post.

[Panzer]

We were never explicitly promised an 8th edition app, however they mentioned about 3 years ago that there will be an app eventually. ^^ 

[Lexington]

This is bonkers on a level that I honestly did not think would be possible.

[Arkhanist]

 

 

So I'm currently watching a video on youtube where someone decompiled the app and analyzed it.

Let's just say it's worse under the surface. Everything written in plaintext, no frameworks (so they have to code the app twice for Android and iOS for example), no error catching and so on and on.

 

BIG Yikes. There are reasons to not use a framework when performance is absolutely critical, but it's a huge red flag for an app like this, particularly when it's intended to be cross-platform. It means you're wasting a lot of time re-inventing the wheel, and usually badly. Lack of error catching is also a massive sin, and again shows bad design practice. It also means testing the code so changes don't introduce new bugs is really, really hard. Not caching the images, the pdf rules, plus the lack of UX design for viewing the data, it definitely reeks of inexperienced developers without good guidance.

 

I'm actually really concerned now about the data security for the new 'my warhammer' if that's their standards.

 

For non-coders, it's like when you get a new kitchen, but none of the joints fit, rough finish all over, they've left mess everywhere, there's new unexplained holes in the walls and they didn't fix the old dodgy pipework - you just know they left the novice to do it or just didn't care, and were rushing to get out the door.

 

 

Correct me if i'm wrong but were we not promised this app for 8th edition when that landed, if so not only is it badly implemented but also 3 years late if im not imagining that we were promised an 8th edition app if it is my imagination ignore this post.

 

 

We weren't promised it for 8th specifically, but they did shut down a good list builder at the end of 7th for copyright infringement, and IIRC hired the guy, and said basically 'watch this space'. But yeah, it's taken a long time to develop, and given they already had the AoS bulder, it shouldn't be *that* hard to make a 40k one if the structure of the existing app is good.

 

I've also been watching Panzer's linked video (and google auto-translate from spoken german to english captions is umm, not great) but you see code samples like this from the app and you realise why it took them so long to build, because they've clearly written the whole thing by hand, and not at all well. I learned not to design like this in my early coding courses in electrical engineering like over 20 years ago, which also explains why the search and data layout is so inflexible - they literally coded the app to only work one way. Badly.

 

http://i.imgur.com/TlzQRCe.png

 

 

(for non coders - you NEVER, EVER use variable1, variable2, variable3, variable4, variable5; it's non-descriptive, very inflexible and makes future changes much more likely to break stuff. It's a novice error. The way they're filling those variables too, oh boy.)

Edited July 31, 2020 by Arkhanist

[Marshal Rohr]

GW isn’t a tech company, so it makes sense they don’t have a repository or templates, but that looks a lot like my shopping cart project for Intro to Scripting

[Borbarad]

So I'm currently watching a video on youtube where someone decompiled the app and analyzed it.

Let's just say it's worse under the surface. Everything written in plaintext, no frameworks (so they have to code the app twice for Android and iOS for example), no error catching and so on and on.

 

It's literally thousands of lines of codes and I'm very sure that the app was written by a trainee or student without supervision and nobody bothered to test the app afterwards (obviously).

 

 

There's also some more juicy stuff. For example the pictures get downloaded anew every single time you open the according page, so better don't use it too much without wlan. Also the database includes an unused "Dark Mechanicus" keyword.

The code for the roster is also already there, just not unlocked. Probably because it's even more buggy than the rest or something.

He also didn't find any code to unlock Codexes, soo...

 

The video is in german, but if someone is interested here's the link: 

 

 

Wow, what a train wreck. It almost feels like there was nepotism at work, when choosing the supplier for that one.

[tvih]

I've never made a mobile app, only web-based stuff and nothing recently, but damn. If this is how it looks on a code level, even I could've probably done that or better alone in a couple of months (at least not counting the time to possibly typing up all the text stuff, which they seem to have done separately given all the typo stuff), while they ostensibly had an actual team working on it for longer than that. Why the hell are the images even downloaded separately rather than included with the app download itself to begin with? I guess trying to use it in offline mode doesn't work if things are constantly downloaded? I get that it's a subscription app (beyond the free mode), but offline and subscription aren't mutually exclusive, after all.

[chapter master 454]

Sad how the company who is on the upturn still can't out do a community who did this sort of thing for free in similar time spans. Several years, the community has multiple of this non-sense but better.

 

Still waiting on their stance regarding Warhammer Digital. I wonder if they aren't putting the core rules up on digital because they are free already, however that wouldn't explain chapter approved.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

How many here actually watched the video and understand German ? Arkanist what code (e.g., C++, Visual Basic) are they using?

[WrathOfTheLion]

They very clearly used Java from the screenshots I've seen. Android development is typically done with that, and that video was floating around I think before the iOS one was released.

[Borbarad]

How many here actually watched the video and understand German ? Arkanist what code (e.g., C++, Visual Basic) are they using?

 

They didn't go into these specifics. But what they made clear is, that who ever programed it, didn't use any of the best-practices of contemporary software development. It shows all signs of amateurish coding: The code is hard to debug, hard to maintain, and not future proof for a 10th edition. Even Chapter Approved will be difficult to implement, the way they set the entire thing up.

 

Their bottom line was that GW should start from scratch  

[Marshal Rohr]

They were hiring for Java and C

[Borbarad]

They were hiring for Java and C

They build their own team for that? Why bother? They could have partnered with an agency that might cost more per hour but actually knows what they are doing.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Have you ever heard of sphagetti coding... coding can be more of an art than a science really.

 

They were hiring for Java and C

They build their own team for that? Why bother? They could have partnered with an agency that might cost more per hour but actually knows what they are doing.

 

It’s much better to do it in house so they can maintain it.

[Borbarad]

Have you ever heard of sphagetti coding... coding can be more of an art than a science really.

 

 

 

They were hiring for Java and C

They build their own team for that? Why bother? They could have partnered with an agency that might cost more per hour but actually knows what they are doing.

It’s much better to do it in house so they can maintain it.

Thats quite a generalization. You can maintain code just fine, working with a reputable supplier. Some even offer an SLA with 24h support to ensure smooth operation.

 

If you build your business on a digital platform or specific piece of digial technology; it might be smart to have all resources in house. It gives you time to react on unforeseen changes in the market. Even then people are relying on suppliers go get certain parts oft the whole done.

 

GW has a lot of control over their miniatures release schedule. Not sure where the need for an internal team comes from.

[Lexington]

Not sure where the need for an internal team comes from.

I imagine that, in theory, it was to avoid the sort of mess that they ended up creating anyway... :p

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Is entertaining reading the critiques from non coders that believe anything they read.

[Sete]

Is entertaining reading the critiques from non coders that believe anything they read.

Feel free to point the discrepancies.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Sete

[Cryptix]

As a games programmer and software engineer, you don't seem much better from my perspective.

[Panzer]

As a games programmer and software engineer, you don't seem much better from my perspective.

 

I honestly don't know what he is on about. Didn't know with his last comment that got deleted and don't know now. I work as a programmer and all the criticism is more than legit.

[Joe]

They build their own team for that? Why bother? They could have partnered with an agency that might cost more per hour but actually knows what they are doing.

The last time they partnered with an external agency for development work they were allegedly scammed out of £1.5 million on the website re-design. Having a broad understanding of web design and the generally scummy nature of contrators through my own career, I can understand the general leeriness they may hold as a result of that.

 

That said, they were hiring for application development positions at the start of this year - if this is a six-month turn-around from a company that's not had the experience of such a project before hand it really isn't as bad as some people are making it out to be.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I write code myself.

[Arkhanist]

How many here actually watched the video and understand German ? Arkanist what code (e.g., C++, Visual Basic) are they using?

 

The code in the video looks like Java, the usual language for native apps on android. I would imagine the iOS app is written in objective C, though it could be using Swift. I'm no expert, pretty much all I write these days is a few dozen lines of powershell or python scripts (I am a manager now, after all!) but I have done a fair bit of work in C++, java and a lot of javascript/coffeescript over the years, so even I can spot obvious anti-patterns in the code samples such as the variable naming, sequential ifs, or what looks like a God Object that's 10,000 lines of code.

 

edit: Hmm, I've just spotted a couple of imports that looks like it might actually be Kotlin, a superset language based on Java. I'm not familiar with Kotlin (and my Java experience is a over a decade old), but I understand it is possible to cross-compile Kotlin to use it in objective-C with a bit of scaffolding - that may be how they're doing the iOS app.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Arkhanist

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Yeah there is lots of companys that develop army builder apps ...