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From: sher@sunybcs.uucp (David Sher)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc,comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Software Technology is NOT Primitive
Message-ID: <6157@sunybcs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Oct-87 12:54:16 EST
Article-I.D.: sunybcs.6157
Posted: Wed Oct 28 12:54:16 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 31-Oct-87 08:18:50 EST
References: <3405@ece-csc.UUCP> <638@its63b.ed.ac.uk>
Sender: nobody@sunybcs.UUCP
Reply-To: sher@gort.UUCP (David Sher)
Followup-To: comp.lang.misc
Distribution: comp
Organization: SUNY/Buffalo Computer Science
Lines: 20
Keywords: software hardware measurements
Xref: mnetor comp.lang.misc:809 comp.software-eng:20

(Followup's to comp.lang.misc)
Time for a stupid analogy:
Someone gives me a 2 watt power line and asks me to build a toaster:
So using my electronics ability and ingenuity I build a toaster that
toasts a piece of bread that was very carefully placed in it in about
15minutes.  

However things advance and he now hands me a 2 Megawatt power line
and says ok buid me a toaster,  and I throw together a toaster that
toasts bread in about 1 minute.  (The most work going into making sure
the user does not electrocute himself.) He then comes back and complains,
I gave you a million times as much power and you only give me a factor
of 20 speedup!  Power engineering sure advances faster than electrical!

Disclamer: As should be obvious by now, I know nothing about constructing
appliances.   This story is not true, and the names have been changed to
protect the innocent and all that stuff.  
-David Sher
ARPA: sher@cs.buffalo.edu	BITNET: sher@sunybcs
UUCP: {rutgers,ames,boulder,decvax}!sunybcs!sher