Xref: utzoo comp.os.minix:11140 comp.unix.xenix:11999 comp.realtime:693 comp.arch:16430 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!uflorida!stat!sun13!prism!kt4 From: kt4@prism.gatech.EDU (Ken Thompson) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix,comp.unix.xenix,comp.realtime,comp.arch Subject: Re: Bloat costs Message-ID: <10342@hydra.gatech.EDU> Date: 11 Jun 90 16:15:09 GMT References: <442@van-bc.UUCP> <266577FA.6D99@tct.uucp> <1990Jun1.200333.10672@pmsmam.uucp> Followup-To: comp.os.minix Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology Lines: 30 >In article <266577FA.6D99@tct.uucp> chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes: > According to jtc@van-bc.UUCP (J.T. Conklin): > > [stuff deleted] > >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". > I strongly disagree that efficiency(including code/date size) can reasonably be ignored. No matter how quickly the power of machines grow, the things that we want to do with them grow even faster. I believe it is a grave mistake not to be concerned with the efficiency of the algorithms used in programming. IMHO, this attitude has led to a severe decline in the capability of software vs. the hardware resources required to execute it. Note I did not say anything about the cost of these resources. I find this depressing to say the least. Ken -- Ken Thompson GTRI, Ga. Tech, Atlanta Ga. 30332 Internet:!kt4@prism.gatech.edu uucp:...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!kt4 "Rowe's Rule: The odds are five to six that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train." -- Paul Dickson