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Re: Steal RAM -- Question
mdj wrote:
Michael J. Mahon wrote:
Ah, but your post is an example of why it's not :-)
I see your point, but "democratically elected facts" don't
always converge, and may converge on the wrong answer. ;-)
At any given point in time, your assertion is correct, but over a
sufficiently large timeline such facts will either be clarified, or
become irrelevant ;-)
It's nice to see an optimist. ;-)
It is clear that the "sufficiently large timeline" for such
convergence is considerably longer than my lifetime, so perhaps
my desire for faster convergence can be excused.
Put another way, belief can prevent a fact from being appreciated
for many lifetimes--such is the power of memes.
I presume you are aware of the numerous cases of biographical
distortions and outright plagiarism in Wikipedia? And of the
editorial resistance to correction of these errors?
Idealism must always be tempered by pragmatism, and the Wiki
ideal is no different. The truth is that some people have better
knowledge than others, and some have better intentions than others.
Only when right knowledge and right intention combine does right
action ensue.
This discussion is actually an interesting case in point - 30 years on
we have a good clarification of the behaviour of the Apple II speaker
for those who are interested. Interpretations of supposedly
"authoritive" sources have been, well, mixed :-)
I hope you note my *correction* to my earlier explanation of the cause
of asymmetry in the speaker output. ;-) Going back to the actual
circuit and analyzing its behavior led to a more accurate result. I had
done that over a year ago, but misremembered the details in my first
explanation. ;-)
This analysis was always available to anyone who looked at the circuit,
having noticed the "strange" response to slow toggles. Apparently,
those who did so just didn't publish the result of their analysis.
-michael
NadaNet networking for Apple II computers!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."