On Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:52:08 +1200 (NZST) John Carter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I have just noticed that I should have celebrated my Millionth Moore > Day last year. > > Moore's Law has gifted me with 2**20 times increase in computer power > since I first started programming them. > > OK. They have also shrunk from taking up most of the 1st floor of a > large building to fitting on my desk.. > > But the basics are the same... > * Computers are still too damn slow. > * Garbage still comes out when you stuff garbage in. > * They still only do what I tell them, not what I want. > > Things that lasted since those days are... > * Fortran - (I'm glad I no longer use it) > * Lisp - Still a fundamentally Good Design > * 80 columns is still about the "right" line length. > > Things that have most improved since those days... > * The advent of Open Source software and Linux. > * Scripting languages like Ruby > * I no longer read files line by line, but > IO.read(filename).scan(regexp) do |match| > doSomethingWithTheBitIcareAbout() > end > > > May you all live to enjoy your (next)? Millionth Moore Day. > > > John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 > Tait Electronics Fax : (64)(3) 359 4632 > PO Box 1645 Christchurch Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED] > New Zealand > >From the 8088 at 0.02 bogomip to my current server @ 4 * 4800... nah, still >have to pull up a calculator (: Over 2^23! (IIRC bogomips halved in size at some point - just like mars bars - at some point so it's probably really 2^22 ). But don't you miss Fortran 2 - computed gotos, no block ifs? I once wrote a little program to number my punched cards in cols 73-80 with the first 4 letters of the function and then a number. I got smacked when the function in question was called analysis... Steve
pgp57wd98JKIt.pgp
Description: PGP signature
