A 360TB disc that holds data for more than 1 million years

[Paddy 1,637]

a data processing punch card

 

 

Each card is what? 12x80 = 960 bytes. So, for 360TB you will need a stack of cards nearly 190,000 miles high (always assuming I haven't made any factor of 1000 errors). Don't drop the stack!

[lamoe 15,680]

Each card is what? 12x80 = 960 bytes. So, for 360TB you will need a stack of cards nearly 190,000 miles high (always assuming I haven't made any factor of 1000 errors). Don't drop the stack!

Something like that but given the sloppy programing done today ( Obamacare?) because of the abundance of memory, it would probably only have been 60K maybe less to equal todays data needs..

 

Use to write code in basic  - yes basic - for a system of inventory control I devised for the Barber Greene Company,  had to be very economical with what was written.

 

We sent a man to the moon on less than a $5 calculator's processing power of today?

[Paddy 1,637]

 

 

sloppy programing

 

I don't think I'd blame Obama for that. My personal culprit is Bill Gates. Windows 12 will take up half of your 5D Optical 360TB drive.

[Cipro 6,202]

“But you're out of your mind,”

They said with a shrug.

“The customer's happy;

What's one little bug?”

 

But he was determined.

The others went home.

He spread out the program,

Deserted, alone.

 

The cleaning men came,

The whole room was cluttered

With memory-dumps, punch cards.

“I'm close,” he muttered.

 

The mumbling got louder,

Simple deduction,

“I've got it, it's right,

Just change one instruction.”

 

It still wasn't perfect,

As year followed year,

And strangers would comment,

“Is that guy still here?”

 

He died at the console,

Of hunger and thirst.

Next day he was buried,

Face down, nine-edge first.

 

And the last bug in sight,

An ant passing by,

Saluted his tombstone,

And whispered, “Nice try.”

[lamoe 15,680]

Sloppy programing was comment on gradual progression of wasting resources / energy / time.

 

Not a Greenie just frugal.

[Cipro 6,202]

Something like that but given the sloppy programing done today ( Obamacare?) because of the abundance of memory, it would probably only have been 60K maybe less to equal todays data needs..

 

Use to write code in basic  - yes basic - for a system of inventory control I devised for the Barber Greene Company,  had to be very economical with what was written.

 

We sent a man to the moon on less than a $5 calculator's processing power of today?

.

True to a point, however a lot of the processing power is used in making the user interface "nice looking" and interactive. Astronauts also got intensive specialized training in using systems that were specifically designed to solve problems in their area of expertise. 

 

Average Amazon user, not so much.

 

Also, while flying to the moon is a big deal, the computing required on board for local automation is not a huge deal.

 

Could your inventory system interface with the accounting systems? Did it talk to vendors systems and make projections and recommendations? Did it do any of the numerous things a modern inventory system does? Unlikely. The fact is that doing more takes more resources, and simple things like timing the firing of position actuators based on gyro input or keeping a list of things are the trivial part of the problem. A student could almost surely duplicate the functionality of a minimalistic inventory system on Android using the built in SQLite database and other OS features. Presenting the data nicely, managing a scalable and potentially geographically distributed database with transactional updates and seamless backups, and so on make things a lot more complex. 

 

On top of that, yes, things are bloated - HOWEVER - BASIC won't fix this, and it's unclear that 'it' is in need of fixing. I like to write low level high performance code, however the economic fact is that ISVs don't want to and don't need to and probably can't afford or find an army of guys like me. What they can afford and find are guys who frankly are mediocre and shouldn't be trusted with a tool like a C/C++ compiler unless training wheels are installed, so reusable components and other scaffolding are invented (sometimes by guys like me) so they won't cut themselves and can still Lego together a reliable and marketable solution for their customers. These components are, by their nature, more general purpose and less optimal than hand-crafted native code, but they allow people do do more with less effort, shifting some of the work to the machine, and the machine is progressively faster and more capable, and surely cheaper, than the human. 

 

 

BASIC is hardly a good example of highly optimized code, BTW. 

[lamoe 15,680]

Nope - didn't claim to be a programmer - said I had used basic -  hired real programer to tech me basics of Basic - was out of necessity - very simple program to interface with  inventory control program to generate printed forms with  location, p/n, anticipated qty and blank space for actual qty. Quickly reached my level of incompetence.

 

Rather than use old system, labeled each position with 8 digit code - 01010101, First physical location in plant, first row / side  of shelves, first shelf, first position on shelf. In the early 70's that was cutting edge use of computers.

 

Also wrote program to generate printed labels in house - admit is was extremely simple but saved several hundred dollars over custom printing.

 

Wasn't criticising Basic - it was the reason our annual inventory certification went from 3 weeks to 3 days  - later learned the outside auditors started offering it as a service to their other customers. 

[Cipro 6,202]

.... admit is was extremely simple but saved several hundred dollars over custom printing.

 

Wasn't criticising Basic - it was the reason our annual inventory certification went from 3 weeks to 3 days  -

At it's core this is what good software should do.