Re: My First Computer (was Computing Editorial)

["Kelly Hall" <hall@priest.com>]

"Ross Simpson" <yeah_whatever> wrote in message
news:3e45c1fe$0$9168$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> As for DirectX, all I can say is it's shocking. Why waste using a Pentium
4
> on sloppy stuff, when it could have some good programming through the use
of
> the hardware?

Umm, I don't think you've ever tried writing commercial programs that have
to run on a wide variety of existing hardware, let alone continue to run on
the next generation hardware that hasn't been invented yet.  That's why
abstractions like DirectX exist, and why they are so popular among both
software and hardware producers.  But if you want to hand-craft some cool
program that works only with one flavor of video card and CPU, go right
ahead.  Just don't feel bad if you're the only person who can run it.

> To program more poorly justify's why hardware has entered into that crazy
> level, it's encouraging hardware manufacturers to make more stupid
hardware
> so that they can make more money out of it.

What stupid hardware do you have in mind?  Modern video cards aren't exactly
stupid.

I guess this thread is running into conflicting definitions of 'efficiency'
as applied to software.  One could write software in a manner to optimize
the run-time of the code, of to use fewer hardware resources; this approach
can take a lot of time to program.  One could also write software in a
manner to minimize the time the programmer spends on the task; this approach
can take more hardware and software resources.  Both methods are
'efficient', depending on what resource it is you're trying to minimize.

> But hey, don't take me personally, I'm just some hobbyist programmer who
> programs for CP/M-86 cause I like to! :-) You can keep all the DirectX's
you
> want.

Clearly, the operative word is 'hobbyist'.  Perhaps for you, hand-crafting
x86 assembly to do some graphics work is a labor of love.  For
professionals, it's simply labor.  Costly labor.  Worse, it's labor that
will be duplicated for every possible video card and CPU combination that
the user might have.  Much cheaper for everyone to write using a standard
graphics API like DirectX and let the video card vendors cough out DirectX
drivers for their own hardware.

But by all means, go ahead and prove me wrong: go hand-code a hot game for
your P4 and GeForce 200 MX or whatever hardware you have.  And then watch it
not get played because other people have different hardware.  Standardized
APIs for hardware are a great thing; don't shit on them just because they
are from Microsoft.

Kelly