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I can't help but read Steve Yegge's announcement in the context of Novig's Law ("compiler research leads to a doubling of compute power every 18 years")[0]. If
by yodon 4y ago
I can't help but read Steve Yegge's announcement in the context of Novig's Law ("compiler research leads to a doubling of compute power every 18 years")[0].
If his presence and enthusiasm can get the compiler community aiming its collective brain power at real developer productivity problems (the why behind SourceGraph's exponential growth) rather than focused on compiler optimization problems, this is going to be a really great time to be writing software!
[0] https://norvig.com/norvigs-law.html https://norvig.com/norvigs-law.html
- jldugger 4y agoSmall nit: if you actually read your citation, it's not Norvig's law, but Proebsting's law[1]. It's a pessimistic spoof of Moore's law, but IMO just reflects how much closer to optimal we started from than the first transistors were. Or maybe how much of a head start we've had doing this on paper for centuries. Like, I would frankly be surprised if we ever got more than one doubling out of Proebsting's law. [1]: https://www.gwern.net/docs/cs/algorithm/2001-scott.pdf https://www.gwern.net/docs/cs/algorithm/2001-scott.pdf
- yodon 4y agoYou're right - Norvig is a much easier name for me to remember than Proebstring, which probably has something to do with why I misfiled the law mentally.
- mandevil 4y agoReading your cite, Norvig's law is different. He credits Todd Proebsting with that observation. (Peter Norvig's law is that something that is at 50% adoption will never double again.)