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* Older operating systems and software from the 80s and 90s. What programmers were able to accomplish with so little memory and space is still impressive. Even

* Older operating systems and software from the 80s and 90s. What programmers were able to accomplish with so little memory and space is still impressive. Even loading a whole OS with games and software over a single floppy disk. * Hardware Video Editors (Genlocks, Toasters, Non-Linear Editing Consoles) * 3D graphics from Evans and Sutherland to the golden days of SGI days, long before there were any standards one could build upon. * The Nintendo 64. Enough Said.

jjice 5y ago
> The Nintendo 64. Enough Said. My dad has been playing Majora's Mask recently and talking to me about it and I'm constantly amazed what they could do on that hardware. That game requires the N64 expansion RAM I believe, which doubled the RAM from 4 to 8 megabytes. I'd struggle to find anything I can do with 8 megabytes today... Sometimes I feel like they were just more impressive programmers back then. I also believe that some of our extra resource usage is worth it for creating applications faster and easier with better structure. It's still incredible that games like Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask all were made with C and assembly on limited hardware, and have very few game breaking bugs that occur during regular gameplay.
- bluefirebrand 5y ago
  > Sometimes I feel like they were just more impressive programmers back then. I feel that way often. I definitely stand on the shoulders of giants to do my silly web app job. But then again no one has ever hired me to do anything wild like fitting a game into 8mb on a hardware cartridge. I've never been in a group of other smart people trying to accomplish it, or mentored towards accomplishing something like that. Maybe I could if I had to. I have the education for it, in theory. I often wonder what line of work I would be in if I hadn't grown up with computers though. Would I have still tried to go into it as a profession because I'm good at math? Or would I be off working as an electrician or something else.
- tomjen3 5y ago
  I purchased Jack Jazzrabit from GOG some time ago and it is as fun as I remember it, but it is also clear that they cut a lot of stuff out. There was a place where I would consistently get killed by a murder bee, so I shot some bullets into where it would come out, but it still came out and killed me. I realized that they despawn the bullets as soon as they are out of range and don't spawn the enemies before they are inside visual range. Both I think would qualify as bugs today.

jjice 5y ago

> The Nintendo 64. Enough Said. My dad has been playing Majora's Mask recently and talking to me about it and I'm constantly amazed what they could do on that hardware. That game requires the N64 expansion RAM I believe, which doubled the RAM from 4 to 8 megabytes. I'd struggle to find anything I can do with 8 megabytes today... Sometimes I feel like they were just more impressive programmers back then. I also believe that some of our extra resource usage is worth it for creating applications faster and easier with better structure. It's still incredible that games like Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask all were made with C and assembly on limited hardware, and have very few game breaking bugs that occur during regular gameplay.

bluefirebrand 5y ago
> Sometimes I feel like they were just more impressive programmers back then. I feel that way often. I definitely stand on the shoulders of giants to do my silly web app job. But then again no one has ever hired me to do anything wild like fitting a game into 8mb on a hardware cartridge. I've never been in a group of other smart people trying to accomplish it, or mentored towards accomplishing something like that. Maybe I could if I had to. I have the education for it, in theory. I often wonder what line of work I would be in if I hadn't grown up with computers though. Would I have still tried to go into it as a profession because I'm good at math? Or would I be off working as an electrician or something else.
tomjen3 5y ago
I purchased Jack Jazzrabit from GOG some time ago and it is as fun as I remember it, but it is also clear that they cut a lot of stuff out. There was a place where I would consistently get killed by a murder bee, so I shot some bullets into where it would come out, but it still came out and killed me. I realized that they despawn the bullets as soon as they are out of range and don't spawn the enemies before they are inside visual range. Both I think would qualify as bugs today.