Re: Accelerator //e

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates) wrote:

>Supertimer <supertimer@aol.com> wrote:
>>Like someone else said, modern programmers no longer write fast
>>programs -- they write slow programs and wait for the hardware to
>>get faster.
>
>   You've got a speed upgrade for the Playstation, N64, Saturn,
>Genesis, SNES, vectrex, or any other game console? I'd sure love to
>see it, as that'd save me a bit of work optimizing stuff to work. [And
>dropping it in liquid nitrogen doesn't count :] Consoles last at least
>4-5 years, and there's zero chance of really waiting for the hardware
>to get fast. Some of us writing software these days do get the
>discipline of fixed hardware speeds.
>
>   A *lot* of GS programmers have gone into console videogames (at
>least we get paid for our work there) simply because we know how to
>optimize stuff to work on a box with 2MB code & data ram

Those programmers who started out on the classics like the GS,
Commodore, or even the Amiga I consider "classic" programmers.
Classic because optimization appears to be a classic art these days.

"Modern" programmers I consider to be those who write bloatware
like MS Word.  I consider them modern because the trend has shifted
towards bloatware.  A little optimization could do those bloated
programs MUCH good.  AWGS, as Scott G. likes to observe, runs
on a 65816 a little faster than a 25Mhz 286 and yet looks like a
speed-demon compared to the bloatware running on a 4 year old
PC.  That's not a comment on the speed of the PC hardware, but
the sadness of the bloatware trend.

There is well optimized PC software if you look for it. DOS Corel
Wordperfect is a good example.  Sadly, this software is getting less
and less popular....