4 ms·

This is 5 years from now that transistors won't shrink anymore. Computers stopped a while ago having higher clock speeds. More integration, wider data paths com

This is 5 years from now that transistors won't shrink anymore. Computers stopped a while ago having higher clock speeds. More integration, wider data paths compensated to some degree. The discussed alternatives like vertical sound in my ears fairly exotic for an industry that has been shrinking, shrinking and shrinking the nodes as the main mode of technical progress. The potential impact is game-changing. I really wonder how this is going to shape where investments in IT go.

pjmlp 10y ago
The problem is that the gap between what the hardware guys are able to offer and what software can explorer is getting bigger and bigger. Hence why the explosion in IoT nowadays, that is nothing new. Everyone with some EE background has been playing with microcontrolers since the early 2000. However we have reached a point where to make such tiny computers, more powerful than any of my PCs at the university, is ridiculously cheap. A computer like the Arduino used to cost more than 100 euros back in the day, now I can buy one for 5 euros and who cares if it burns. On the other side of the spectrum we have CPUs like the Nvidia Titan X, which 99% of the computing population can barely make it get out of idle state. So unless one is an heavy gamer, doing Fintech, VR or AI research there is hardly anything new processors can offer over the existing computing workloads. So I guess it isn't stop shrinking as such, but also if it will still be economically viable to continue that route until a new computing paradigm emerges (e.g. Quantum or whatever)
userbinator 10y ago
I really wonder how this is going to shape where investments in IT go. Hopefully we'll start to see even more emphasis on optimisation, possibly revived interest in Asm while compilers catch up... and then realise just how efficient software can really be.
- mtrn 10y ago
  I really hope for that. Working with Unix tools a lot, I appreciate these programs, that were already useful over thirty years ago. The developer mindset needs to change as well. I seldom here people wondering about the sheer computing power of the systems they use. Many developers also seem to get a kick out of building complex systems (with (most of the time too) many abstraction layers burning cpu cycles) - because they seem to believe building complex things somehow means having control over complexity - but I'm not sure about that.
- ant6n 10y ago
  Or C++N, which gives you abstractions for not very expensive. I wish we had a better, higher level, cross-platform access to SIMD.
  - maga 10y ago
    Your wish will soon be granted: SIMD is a stage 3 proposal for JavaScript, already implemented in nightly versions of FF and Edge, coming to Chrome as well. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/SIMD https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...

pjmlp 10y ago

The problem is that the gap between what the hardware guys are able to offer and what software can explorer is getting bigger and bigger. Hence why the explosion in IoT nowadays, that is nothing new. Everyone with some EE background has been playing with microcontrolers since the early 2000. However we have reached a point where to make such tiny computers, more powerful than any of my PCs at the university, is ridiculously cheap. A computer like the Arduino used to cost more than 100 euros back in the day, now I can buy one for 5 euros and who cares if it burns. On the other side of the spectrum we have CPUs like the Nvidia Titan X, which 99% of the computing population can barely make it get out of idle state. So unless one is an heavy gamer, doing Fintech, VR or AI research there is hardly anything new processors can offer over the existing computing workloads. So I guess it isn't stop shrinking as such, but also if it will still be economically viable to continue that route until a new computing paradigm emerges (e.g. Quantum or whatever)

userbinator 10y ago

I really wonder how this is going to shape where investments in IT go. Hopefully we'll start to see even more emphasis on optimisation, possibly revived interest in Asm while compilers catch up... and then realise just how efficient software can really be.

mtrn 10y ago
I really hope for that. Working with Unix tools a lot, I appreciate these programs, that were already useful over thirty years ago. The developer mindset needs to change as well. I seldom here people wondering about the sheer computing power of the systems they use. Many developers also seem to get a kick out of building complex systems (with (most of the time too) many abstraction layers burning cpu cycles) - because they seem to believe building complex things somehow means having control over complexity - but I'm not sure about that.
ant6n 10y ago
Or C++N, which gives you abstractions for not very expensive. I wish we had a better, higher level, cross-platform access to SIMD.
- maga 10y ago
  Your wish will soon be granted: SIMD is a stage 3 proposal for JavaScript, already implemented in nightly versions of FF and Edge, coming to Chrome as well. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/SIMD https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...