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Allow me to answer in terms of integrated vs. modular architectures: they were fast enough when Java's virtual machine became viable, when .Net's virtual machin
by 10ren 16y ago
Allow me to answer in terms of integrated vs. modular architectures: they were fast enough when Java's virtual machine became viable, when .Net's virtual machine became viable, when interpreted scripting languages (Javascript, Python, Ruby) became viable.
Basically, whenever an extra layer that soaked up performance in return for other benefits (such faster development time, better error checking, more flexibility, easier, more intuitive) was actually adopted by real people, it meant that the computer was fast enough in their opinion to trade some of that fastness for other benefits.
relevant: http://xkcd.com/676/ http://xkcd.com/676/
- 10ren 16y agoGarbage collection (mentioned in the article) is also a great example of integrated vs modular, with the same tradeoffs: when you handle it manually, it is integrated with the code - and it's possible to optimize/customize its performance much better than an automatic garbage collector. An automatic garbage collector is a separate module: the details are separated from your code; different garbage collectors (with different strategies/tradeoffs) can be used without affecting your code; and development is cheaper.