From punched tape to megapixels

TalkBack 12 of 12:

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Moore's Law, etc.

I guess it's hard to know where to draw the line, isn't it? The advances in the technology from my viewpoint as a developer is kind of a two-edged sword. On one edge, the advances in the user-interface and development technology have made my life easier; I don't have to manage the nitty-gritty details of user-interface design anymore, at least not below the form level.

On the other hand, the advance in this technology has encouraged a lot of sloppy development practice. The software development community produces a lot of garbage for the very reason that anybody can just throw a program together. It used to take highly specialized effort to produce a working piece of software.

From a user's perspective it is also a two-edged sword. On the positive side I find it wonderful that I can continue my photography hobby as cheaply as I can using this technology. Digital camera in my bag always I can do anything I want with it. On the down side, though, the technology requires a lot of maintenance at times.

The biggest thing I've noticed, though, is at work. With all this technology we're producing bigger and bigger versions of our program. Some of this is real improvement to it (maybe 30%), the rest of it is just bloat - features on top of features just so the sales guys can sell more product. The computers are, indeed, a thousand times more powerful than in the DOS days - but we're doing all this extra work to get the same answers we were looking for 10 to 15 years ago. Sometimes I wonder if it really is progress.

-bruce

Posted by: CodeBubba   Posted on: 06/04/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Companies have rapidly adopted server virtualization over the past few ... Download Now
• Three Steps You Need to Know to Stop Data Loss Varonis Sensitive data exposed to misuse or loss... it is the stuff of nightmares ... Download Now
• Five Steps to Determine When to Virtualize YourServers VMware Server virtualization isn't just for big companies. Entry-level ... Download Now