|
It may be obsolete now, but it sounds like it was cutting edge at the time.
The Ford Model T was once leading edge!
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
|
|
|
|
|
The primary difference between that code and a model T today is the model t is a desirable item.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
|
|
|
|
|
The Model T can still be driven on today's roads (albeit not on the Motorway/Freeway/Autobahn). How much IBM 5040 software can run on modern hardware? And how much of it would you want to run, even if it were translated perfectly?
Progress in computer technology within the last 50 years has been astounding. Based on clock speed alone, our processors are more than 5,000 times more powerful than they were in the '70s, and that's not taking into account the increased power provided by many instructions, multi-threading, etc. The Model T has a top speed of (shall we say) 50 kph. To match the increase in speed in computers, a modern car would have to do 250,000 kph*, IOW circle the Earth every 10 minutes! How many people, having access to a car like that, would take interest in a Model T?
* Don't bother me with Physics; I know that is well over escape velocity.
EDIT: replaced mph with kph. 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
modified 7-Feb-24 16:56pm.
|
|
|
|
|
I happened to see a real Model T at a car show a few years ago, and the owner told me that the engine makes 12 horsepower.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
|
|
|
|
|
They're actually a really affordable collector car because Ford sold so many of them. You can find them anywhere.
Unfortunately it means they're not worth a whole lot even given their age.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
|
|
|
|
|
Richard Andrew x64 wrote: the engine makes 12 horsepower.
I just googled the Model T speed record. It apparently was 42 mph (68 kph), so I was out by a bit. It doesn't change my basic argument, that the advances in computer technology are orders of magnitude greater than the advances in mechanics and similar technologies.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
There is no such thing as kph! it is km/h.
|
|
|
|
|
About twenty-five years ago I wrote some code that did something similar. It was my import definition file for my script engine that define all the libraries and functions that were going to be imported along with their arguments and calling type. This was all loaded into shared memory once by the initialization process. This was for an automation system framework that was designed as a whole bunch of small, independent processes that were all implemented with the script engine. Everything was parsed and compiled to native machine code and it was lightning fast in both execution and load time. I was and still am pretty proud of that code. The last I heard there were over one thousand installed systems using the framework that are used to build all kinds of things.
The thing is, it too is a bit rusty now. That was all done in the 32-bit world and one thing in particular was done a bit on the sloppy side. Enough so that if it is ever ported to the 64-bit world it is going to a HUGE amount of work. One amusing thing is we heard from a few customers who thought interpreted code would be too slow. It really wasn't but I figured out how to generate machine code on the fly so speed become a non-issue. Now, with 5GHz, multi-core processors being normal that script engine could be reverted to compilation for interpreted execution and still be more than fast enough.
FWIW - the sloppy thing was handling time values which is REALLY important for those systems since a big part of their job is scheduling processing equipment. I should have used a specially defined type and the porting would be really easy. The way they were handled is going to be difficult to sort out but the clock is ticking on that. This is actually a potentially bigger issue than the year 2000 stuff was. That is because in 2037 the 32-bit time_t value is going to overflow so any systems that still use them are going to have interesting problems. I suspect that is a pretty large number of systems. Did you know the German railroad system still runs most of their trains with Windows 3.1? The US Navy still runs a large number of ships with Windows 98. There are tons of ancient, legacy systems in all kinds of places that need to be updated and if we don't get started soon big problems will arise. At the speed of government, thirteen years is really not that long.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
|
|
|
|
|
As far as time values I've learned to love the unix timestamp in 64-bits for cross platform transferability.
If you need higher resolutions than seconds you can fractionalize that or add a trailer or whatever.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
|
|
|
|
|
The New York subway system still runs on OS2. And Amtrak is probably still running on Visual Studio 6.0. The point being, it is really really hard to re-engineer an existing system. Sort of like re-building a skyscraper without tearing it down first. In other words, real code maintenance (aka, evolution) does not really exist yet. Monthly OS updates is not really a solution now is it.
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, it is hard to re-engineer an existing system BUT it is not that hard to update a system to run on a current operating system and compiler because that usually does not require re-engineering. That is, as long as the OSs are of the same family. I know because that is something I have done many, many times. The most frequent problems I encountered were issues with interfaces. I learned to make interfaces as generic as possible and that considerably minimizes porting issues.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
|
|
|
|
|
I wrote code over 40 years ago that I'm fairly sure is still running in telecom switches. It was a framework, so it might even still be used for a little development. And I know this to be the case for a framework I wrote over 25 years ago. If you're an AT&T mobile subscriber, that code runs whenever you call or text.
|
|
|
|
|
I am younger, so I can't speak about creations of mine older than 15-20 years. But I am pretty sure a couple of hundred-thousands (if not a couple of millions) have been using products done by machines I programmed in my industry automation days 
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
That's the whole point... Being on the edge... Granted, what once was a complex beauty now can be done with a single line, but the beauty stays... And we are moving on...
"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ― Gerald Weinberg
|
|
|
|
|
Now, in my opinion, it's really an exaggeration:
Develop it today, migrate it tomorrow  
|
|
|
|
|
My name's enshrined here [BBC Kermit] as long as someone keeps this ancient piece of source code online...
I also know that every piece of this commercial product which I initially wrote in the late 80s has been completely replaced! I wrote it in VAX Pascal and it was rewritten in C for WinNT!
I'm resigned to the fact that every piece of software I've ever written has been or will be replaced and may only be kept for historical reference, not actual use.
|
|
|
|
|
You used to write single-line if-statements and now we have tools that warn you about bad code style 
|
|
|
|
|
Just dump some of your dollars into sculpting.
Maybe you can make a bronze (or something) casting where it is both code and sculpture.
I don't suppose I care if my code lives on. It's cool to think about in some cases (and horrifying in others), but the stuff that really transcends time is probably all of the very hard to quantify or even see 'butterfly effect' type things.
Like something you did in a codebase or something you posted nudging someone else to do different and on down the line.
|
|
|
|
|
I always tell people that programming is like building a house on sand on a hill, and someone added "when a rainstorm is coming"
|
|
|
|
|
Part of the learning experience. I have learned many things loooking for the right thing while trying the wrong thing. Even my "great" software would have been better with the tools of today.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
|
|
|
|
|
My experience has been about 10 years for code use before it is retired.
I did recently dust off some 20 year old code that had been obsoleted 19 years ago, but is now 80% applicable to a new need. I was surprised how quickly I found it.
|
|
|
|
|
honey the codewitch wrote: It really makes me wonder what is the actual shelf life of the things that I create, and how long will they survive once I'm on the wrong side of the dirt?
As I once told one of my coworkers (as well as an almost 80-years old carpenter neighbor of mine), coders aren't building cathedrals. Structures my old neighbor built when he was a young man are still standing today, and will probably continue to do so for a long time. I can't, and will never be able to, say the same about my work.
If any of the software I've written over the course of my life outlives me, it means I'll be dead far sooner than I'd wish.
Honestly I can't say I care too much if anything I wrote 10 years ago is no longer used today. A lot of it might be due to the fact that I might not even recognize it myself.
|
|
|
|
|
How Buddhist of you. I wish I didn't have a sense of attachment.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
|
|
|
|
|
Interesting perspective.
I do take pride in some of my accomplishments (a well-written library, for example, that I'll keep re-using over and over again), but "attachment"? Nah, I'm not feelin' it. I can always re-implement something, which means I can't get too attached to the original.
But, reading what you write about (with a lot of fascination from my part), it's clear we're not working at the same level. Not even close. And I do mean that in the best way possible. ![Rose | [Rose]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
|
|
|
|
|
Disclaimer: Rants of noob working with React and Material UI.
Pretty much despise both.
Material UI: It's default styling is for the geriatric -- mostly blind, needs everything in huge fonts, swimming in whitespace. And figuring out how to style Material UI is such a PITA, regardless of how much documentation there is on styling.
React: Really, no two-way data binding? State and props? OK, components are great, but half the time I have to extend the "props" with React.PropsWithChildren, like WTF, why??? And communication between dissociated components requires a pubsub (so I've read and implemented), or between parent-child components which I still haven't figured out -- seems straightforward but I haven't tried it yet. And markup in the TypeScript code? I get that because of the nature of a reusable component, but still, yuck. I want code to be code, markup to be not in my code.
And then, there's the "old" way of using React, with classes and super(props, state and the "new" way with "hooks": "Classes can be reused by using higher-order components (HOCs) or render properties. Hooks came into use later and offer a simpler and more logical approach to writing components." So which style to use? I'm not keen on hooks because I like to contain things in classes - with hooks, everything is functions, from what I see. Blech.
And using React with third party components like jqxWidgets requires various components be "ref'd" because setting a specific state field appears to update all the state fields, so things like a jqxComboBox goes haywire when typing in specific text -- React resets the selectedIndex even though I'm not setting it in the state! So any field that uses {this.state.foo} causes React to say, "hey, there's state stuff on this widget, so let's f*** it over every time the component's state changes!"
And don't even get me started on using react-router which then requires (according to SO) that everything now be children of HashRouter instead of BrowserRouter which means hashes in the URL's.
I really do like the component stuff, Material UI can go the way of the dinosaur for all I care, and yet I feel like React is itself heading to extinction.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
