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Ask HN: What are the numbers everyone should know in 2019?
- vpribish 7y agothe title would be improved by specifying that this is about computing performance - not, say, global economics, nutrition, or cosmology. maybe "What are the computing performance numbers developers should know in 2019?"
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- makk 7y agoAgreed. I cannot update the title, apparently. Would if I could.
- smaili 7y agoGreat content - awful ads
- dvh 7y ago21: largest number factored by quantum computer (including only algorithms that can scale into cryptographic levels)
- hjk05 7y agoThat’s such a great way to communicate the current state of the field. Do you have a reference for that? And so you know what the largest number factored for algorithms that don scale into the cryptographic levels is?
- saagarjha 7y ago> And so you know what the largest number factored for algorithms that don scale into the cryptographic levels is? You're going to have to qualify this more, because I can factor 2^googol pretty well…
- gundmc 7y ago"Here we experimentally demonstrate the factorization of two bi-primes, 4088459 and 966887 using IBM's 5- and 16-qubit quantum processors, hence making those the largest numbers that have been factorized on a quantum device."[1] It looks like some real progress has been made with qbit quality and stability in the last few years! I think that 21 figure held for quite a while. Maybe it still does hold and I'm misunderstanding some of the nuance. 1 - https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.10478 https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.10478
- dvh 7y agoYes, those are the examples of quantum methods that don't scale to cryptographic levels. The only one that can scale is shor's and the answer is still 21. https://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/59795/largest-integer-factored-by-shors-algorithm https://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/59795/largest-int...
- gundmc 7y agoThanks for clarifying! TIL
- m00dy 7y agoI was in a meeting with other developers and we were discussing pros/cons for a module that needs to be rewritten. The discussion came to the point where the team has different opinions on network overhead. That was the time actually I remember using concrete numbers/values can help you win debates/discussions easily. :)
- makk 7y agoBingo. Helps in job interviews, too!
- weego 7y agoStandard reminder for younger devs when this stuff is posted that almost no one needs to know these numbers let alone 'everyone'.
- makk 7y agoYou're right. In retrospect I could have picked a better title. My bad!
- cm2012 7y ago*Programmers/developers should know.
- makk 7y agoYou're right. Should have been more precise and not mimicked the title of the OP.
- cjhanks 7y agoAn of course, the nice interactive plot: https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~rcs/research/interactive_latency.html https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~rcs/research/interactive_l...
- makk 7y agoAwesome. That's what I was looking for!
- normalperson 7y agohttp://www.unz.com/isteve/the-worlds-most-important-graph/ http://www.unz.com/isteve/the-worlds-most-important-graph/
- notyourwork 7y agoOff topic but that top banner ad is annoying to say the least. (I’m on mobile.)
- markmm 7y ago12...inches...the size of my dick...end novel collection
- bo1024 7y ago71 - approx number of domains this webpage connects to 53 - approx number of those known to be associated with advertising and tracking Sorry to post something negative, I think the idea in the post is cool, but in 2019 everyone should know this...
- idoubtit 7y agoHow come a meaningless question, which is probably just a click-bait for promoting a web site, is the first result on HN? I'm worried about HN. This is totally subjective, but I feel that technical content related to computers is now sparse in the top pages, while it was preponderant. And the culture of ads and lucrative visits is damaging the site, like everywhere online. Maybe this is false and the change is within myself, anyway I should keep away from HN.
- makk 7y agoWow. So, I was preparing for technical interviews I came across that post from 2009. And the values in the tables seemed relevant but potentially dated. And so the question to HN is directed toward whether those values are still valid, and whether other values are relevant now. The title of the post is a reference to the title of the OP.
- dahart 7y agoOh, I think I completely missed that it was a question. Having this comment in the original question probably would have helped. So, to answer the question, there are definitely some numbers in that chart that are closely related to the speed of light, so they can’t ever change. Most other numbers are still reasonably close due to the end of Moore’s law. But, the list itself feels a little dated since it references spinning disks and doesn’t mention SSDs. These days, I’d maybe include something about modern GPUs, number of flops & typical memory/bus bandwidth. It’s also fun to extend your posted chart with longer times like around the world, or out to geosynchronous orbit or the moon and back. I do sometimes ask an interview question about what is the fastest way to get a terabyte of data from LA or NY with specific assumptions, or something along those lines.
- dahart 7y agoSince the original source doesn’t seem to be attributed, I believe this chart came from Peter Norvig. http://norvig.com/21-days.html#answers http://norvig.com/21-days.html#answers In case anyone wants to read any of the many previous discussions: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=latency%20numbers%20every%20programmer%20should%20know&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=latency%20numbers%20every%20pr...
- makk 7y agoFantastic. This is exactly what I was looking for.