Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:51709 comp.os.minix:10986 comp.unix.xenix:11844 comp.realtime:676 comp.arch:16235
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!uunet!brunix!doorknob!wsd
From: wsd@cs.brown.edu (Wm. Scott `Spot' Draves)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.os.minix,comp.unix.xenix,comp.realtime,comp.arch
Subject: Re: Bloat costs
Message-ID: <WSD.90Jun1130958@miles.cs.brown.edu>
Date: 1 Jun 90 17:09:58 GMT
References: <2662D045.3F02@tct.uucp> <442@van-bc.UUCP> <266577FA.6D99@tct.uucp>
Sender: news@brunix.UUCP
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Brown University
Lines: 29
In-reply-to: chip@tct.uucp's message of 31 May 90 20:00:58 GMT

In article <266577FA.6D99@tct.uucp> chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
   According to jtc@van-bc.UUCP (J.T. Conklin):

   >On the other hand, there is something to be said about giving
   >beginning programmers 6 MHz Xenix/286 machines to work on.

   Amen.

If you are suggesting that novice programmers be given slow/obsolete
hardware so that they learn to write efficient code, I would disagree
with you strongly.

Efficiency is just one of many attributes that are generally
desirable in programs.  Learning to program on a machine that is
slower than the state of the art will artificially skew the importance
of eff. programming.

One of the wonderful things about 20Mip 32Mb workstations is that I
don't have to worry about eff. when writing most code.  I can
concentrate on other issues such as clarity of code, speed of
execution, speed of development, fancy features, ...

by "eff." i mean "frugal of code and data".

--

Scott Draves		Space... The Final Frontier
wsd@cs.brown.edu
uunet!brunix!wsd