Hi
18 Apr 2001, Clarence Verge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> PPS: Not related to this message, but I don't want to write a new
>> one :) But I never felt well with the definition of 'bloat' used on
>> this Mailinglists, so I had to share this definition, which I feel
>> MUCH more comfortable with. (written by Linus Torvalds
>> [Maintainer/author of the Linux Kernel] on the kernel mailinglist)
>> === Begin file ===
>> Bloat is not about being big. Bloat is about being slow and stupid
>> and not realizing that it's because of design mistakes.
>> === End file ===
CV> Snort !
sounds interesting ;-P
CV> That's like an American gas guzzling automobile manufacturer saying:
CV> "Fuel economy is not about miles per gallon. Fuel economy is about
CV> getting the price of gas down to the point where no one complains."
you have IMHO misinterpreted it.
It's OK to make something a bit larger, if you get something in return for
it. (eg it's OK to use 10% more gas, if the resulting vehicle can carry
twice the weight than a normal vehicle ;)
But if it uses 10% more gas, because 10% of the gas, are purred to the
street, than it is not good (tm) ;)
CV> Of course he would say that.
CV> Linux is bloated by anyone's measuring stick.
not to anyone's ...
it is NOT bloated according to my measuring stick.
(and don't forget ... linux is the kernel ...
you can recompile, and through everything out that you don't want.)
CV> That bloat is ALSO about being slow and stupid is a given but,
CV> primarily, bloat is about being bigger (by a factor of two or more)
CV> than necessary.
that would definitely be a design mistake, and therefor is covered by the
definition.
BUT: according to my feeling bloat is NOT if you use C instead of
assembler.
You simply trade something for something.
assembler is:
+ fast
+ small
- unportable
- EXTREMELY hard to use for large projects
- error prone
IMHO a kernel which is 30% bigger is acceptable, if there are less bugs,
because the code is more 'readable', and you can simply recompile on
different platforms to get a running system. (take the kernel, and compile
it for X86, PPC, Alpha, X86-64, Merced, .....)
CV> We could argue about the definition of what's necessary, I guess. ;-)
exactly :)))
CV> If your argument is that you have plenty of disk space and plenty of
CV> memory, then I'm sure some gas guzzler manufacturer has a job for you.
CV> <G>
:)) not exactly my argumentation
CV> - Clarence Verge
CU, Ricsi
--
|~)o _ _o Richard Menedetter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> {ICQ: 7659421} (PGP)
|~\|(__\| -=> KEYBOARD: used to enter errors into computers <=-
