🚀 go-pugleaf

Vince Scarafino wrote:

> Ben Neil Gerdemann wrote:
> >
> > Geoff O'Callaghan (hackcat@banzai.apana.org.au) wrote:
> > : Has anyone else noticed that as technology gets better and better
> that
> > : the performance of the software gets worse and worse?  It seems
> that
> > : software developers are using faster hardware to cover up for
> incompetent
> > : programmers.
> > : Linux is a slick OS but as soon as you want a word processor you
> get
> > : software which has bugger all features, is as bloated (code-wise)
> as a
> > : puffer fish and runs like a 'rock'.
> > : Just to put things in perspective I have a pdp-11 with 256K (yes
> K) of
> > : memory and this is capable of running 20 simultaneous word
> processor users
> > : (which it used to).
> > : So using todays P200 with 64M of memory and the same software
> profile then
> > : I should be able to have 5000+ simultaneous users - but I can't
> even
> > : get 1 WP to run.
> >
> > I agree! For example, I downloaded a copy of PacMan for Windows 95
> from
> > the M$ site. The download was over 1MB, and the game played
> identically to
> > the one I used to have for my C-64. Same cheesy graphics and sound,
> yet on
> > a machine 7 years old it only took less then 100K.
> >
> > I think the problem this software developers are constantly under
> pressure
> > to get their software out as fast as possible. Writing tight small
> code is
> > not a priority, and until hardware speeds stop increasing so fast it
> won't
> > be. Sigh.
> >
> > --Ben
>
> If we're after war storys, I can bring back my IBM 1130 days, when we
> had 4K to work with.  As processor speeds and memory increase, it
> isn't
> as important to write tight, fast code.  It's more important that the
> code be portable and understandable.  (I'm not implying that the bulk
> of todays programmers do that, either.)

No kidding.  Another point to annoys the heck out of me is that the
current generation of programmers are rediscovering ancient
technologies.  For example, NT 5.0 is being hyped because users will be
able to log into another machine and run programs on the other machine,
with screen output appearing on the first machine.  Give me a break.
UNIX has had this capability for over a decade.

The same thing happened when the PeeSee first started to multi-task.
The programmers of the day really believed they had invented something
new.  Sigh.

Perhaps I am getting too old for this game!