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This is so awesome that we get to reimplement the same graphics effects we did on first PCs from the mid 80s, but this time - fully loading CPUs on machines tha

This is so awesome that we get to reimplement the same graphics effects we did on first PCs from the mid 80s, but this time - fully loading CPUs on machines that would have been cosidered supercomputers back then! It's called progress. And because of it, we programmers will never be out of work.

gruseom 18y ago
Although you seem to mostly be talking about new platforms, I'd add another reason for this perpetual reimplementation: the amazing lack of knowledge transfer from one generation of programmers to the next. Nearly everybody seems to start from scratch, and of course we all think our ideas and programs are original and far superior to what came earlier. I've often wondered about this. Part of it may be that the real practice of programming is totally divorced from the schools that (supposedly) teach it. Another part is obviously that the quick succession of languages and platforms reduces earlier work to the equivalent of ancient indecipherable tablets (if it's even available). On that last point, one of the unexpected pleasures of working in Common Lisp is being able to easily read 20-year old code. It turns out they weren't as stupid back then as we might think!
- albertcardona 18y ago
  Great point about the "undecipherable tables" that any program eventually becomes as languages, platforms and OSes change. Beyond PR and vested interests, the full backward compatilibity of java (even when it hurts) and of Windows (up to XP) account for their survival a lot more than anyone would ever suspect at first thought.
notauser 18y ago
On my machine (latest stable firefox shipped with Ubuntu, 2 year old MBP) it 'only' loads the CPU by about 5%, which isn't great but considering that: - The machine is still fully usable, and you buy a fast CPU in case you need to run demanding code. - JS VMs are still improving. - Complex JS getting more and more cross platform. - 3D library hooks from JS are likley in the future. All of the advanced JS effects really are quite promising for growth into seriously rich web apps in the future.

gruseom 18y ago

Although you seem to mostly be talking about new platforms, I'd add another reason for this perpetual reimplementation: the amazing lack of knowledge transfer from one generation of programmers to the next. Nearly everybody seems to start from scratch, and of course we all think our ideas and programs are original and far superior to what came earlier. I've often wondered about this. Part of it may be that the real practice of programming is totally divorced from the schools that (supposedly) teach it. Another part is obviously that the quick succession of languages and platforms reduces earlier work to the equivalent of ancient indecipherable tablets (if it's even available). On that last point, one of the unexpected pleasures of working in Common Lisp is being able to easily read 20-year old code. It turns out they weren't as stupid back then as we might think!

albertcardona 18y ago
Great point about the "undecipherable tables" that any program eventually becomes as languages, platforms and OSes change. Beyond PR and vested interests, the full backward compatilibity of java (even when it hurts) and of Windows (up to XP) account for their survival a lot more than anyone would ever suspect at first thought.

notauser 18y ago

On my machine (latest stable firefox shipped with Ubuntu, 2 year old MBP) it 'only' loads the CPU by about 5%, which isn't great but considering that: - The machine is still fully usable, and you buy a fast CPU in case you need to run demanding code. - JS VMs are still improving. - Complex JS getting more and more cross platform. - 3D library hooks from JS are likley in the future. All of the advanced JS effects really are quite promising for growth into seriously rich web apps in the future.