Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!dev!dgis!jkrueger From: jkrueger@dgis.dtic.dla.mil (Jon) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Speed costs (Re: MWC's Coherent - A Lemon...) Message-ID: Date: 31 May 90 16:04:08 GMT References: <2793@crash.cts.com> <265D2FE5.2513@tct.uucp> <640@sibyl.eleceng.ua.OZ> <5CT35R7@xds13.ferranti.com> Followup-To: comp.software-eng Organization: Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), Alexandria VA Lines: 21 > [many differing points from Peter, Ian, Henry, John] Some more differing points (reconcile 'em all for free prize :-) Tyranny of growth rate applies to space as well as time. Cheaper storage forgives increasingly large constant factors, but not exponential growth. Added complexity is a hidden cost of bloat. The larger system is often the less well-defined systems; The costs of developing, validating, maintaining, and/or costs of unreliablity, may grow too. "Software: fast, cheap, reliable -- choose any two". Again "fast" could mean "small". Explosive growth of space may be a symptom of getting reliable software at low development cost, but predicts higher operational cost. Sometimes tradeoffs must be made, but you can trade the right things for the right things. -- Jon -- Jonathan Krueger jkrueger@dtic.dla.mil uunet!dgis!jkrueger Drop in next time you're in the tri-planet area!