4 ms·
The sadness does not step from the size of a random binary file per se. The sad part is the prevalence of attitudes deemed unprofessional among people of a cert
by hasenj 9y ago
The sadness does not step from the size of a random binary file per se. The sad part is the prevalence of attitudes deemed unprofessional among people of a certain profession.
It's sad for example, that with all the technologies available to us, to imagine what we could have, and compare it with what we do have.
- lallysingh 9y agoIt wouldn't help. If we spent more engineering effort on efficiencies that don't have a substantive effect on consumer response, we're just being inefficient with our time. That will result in less capable software, higher big counts, or higher software prices. Software is written with budgets, and nothing is free.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoThat's only true if you believe focusing things with " substantive effect on consumer response" is the right thing to do. It sounds like a good heuristic in theory, but the practice clearly shows that we ought to be able to do better than that. I mean, if only fraction of the effort that goes towards making things shiny and sexy went towards making them efficient and actually useful, the computing world would be better, for no loss in actual capabilities (and likely great gains).
- zimpenfish 9y ago> That's only true if you believe focusing things with " substantive effect on consumer response" is the right thing to do. I like eating. Which means I like getting paid. Which means the companies I work for have to focus on things like "substantive effect on consumer response" to keep getting money to pay me.
- davexunit 9y agoAdding this to the list of anecdotes about why capitalism must end.
- psyc 9y agoI like at least making the attempt to earn the title "engineer".
- flukus 9y ago> I like eating. Which means I like getting paid. I'd love to pay you (by buying your app), but because everyone was focused on things that generate a "substantive effect on consumer response" I simply don't have the space on my phone to install your app.
- hasenj 9y agoHow would you like it if a car mechanic left extra garbage in your car because he has no time to clean it and you don't know what's underneath the hood anyway so who cares! It's kind of hard to trust someone with that attitude, don't you think? Yet we waste CPU/RAM/Disk space on consumer's devices without hardly giving it a second thought.
- hood_syntax 9y agoFantastic way of putting it. Developers shirk responsibility too easily
- lallysingh 9y agoThis is more like what if Ford/GM left additional material in the car that didn't need to be there? Those are weight/dynamics/fuel optimizations left on the table.