3 ms·

> If you really wanted exact numbers you wouldn't be using fixed precision floats anyways. Let the adults play with things that need to work exactly as documen

> If you really wanted exact numbers you wouldn't be using fixed precision floats anyways. Let the adults play with things that need to work exactly as documented (such as IEEE 754 floating point representations) and therefore can be relied upon when required. You can go back to building your little unreliable toys that nobody uses.

charcircuit 2y ago
There is no need to belittle me while not providing a practical example where the average consumer can be harmed by this bug.
- fragmede 2y ago
  therac 25?
  - charcircuit 2y ago
    The average consumer with a pentium didn't have it in a radiation therapy machine.
    - rbanffy 2y ago
      But those who used a Therac 25 wouldn't be happy.
      - immibis 2y ago
        Therac 25 didn't use a Pentium, nor floating point, and if it did, a 0.0001% increase in the radiation dose would be unnoticeable.
        rbanffy 2y ago
        It didn't, but the joke is still funny.
- genewitch 2y ago
  humans are potentially harmed when developers use an unsigned int as a counter and it rolls to zero. Or a byte, in the case of medical radiation machines. I guarantee if you had access to a full nntp text dump from this era you'd find some "harm" Intel is dead, long live Intel.
  - charcircuit 2y ago
    >when developers use an unsigned int as a counter and it rolls to zero Yet, people wouldn't expect to return their CPU if this happened. The entire technology stack of a computer is filled with bugs, yet people are able to use them to great utility every day.
- inetknght 2y ago
  > not providing a practical example where the average consumer can be harmed by this bug. Why is a practical example necessary in this case? Why are you not able to recognize the very serious harms that were already described by people 30 years ago and during the intervening time? Why are you demanding that I spend my time to find and give you that information instead of you? I am not your personal tutor.
  - charcircuit 2y ago
    Look at my original comment. I asking for a clarification on why the other person believes that intel was wrong and a risk actually was present. Instead of backing up the claim people swarmed me with hypothetical scenarios that don't prove that those scenarios were common enough to happen and cause a problem. I am not demanding your time. You were the one who joined the conversation smugly asserting you knew better than me. You could have just ignored me if you didn't want to answer my question.

charcircuit 2y ago

There is no need to belittle me while not providing a practical example where the average consumer can be harmed by this bug.

fragmede 2y ago
therac 25?
- charcircuit 2y ago
  The average consumer with a pentium didn't have it in a radiation therapy machine.
  - rbanffy 2y ago
    But those who used a Therac 25 wouldn't be happy.
    - immibis 2y ago
      Therac 25 didn't use a Pentium, nor floating point, and if it did, a 0.0001% increase in the radiation dose would be unnoticeable.
      - rbanffy 2y ago
        It didn't, but the joke is still funny.
genewitch 2y ago
humans are potentially harmed when developers use an unsigned int as a counter and it rolls to zero. Or a byte, in the case of medical radiation machines. I guarantee if you had access to a full nntp text dump from this era you'd find some "harm" Intel is dead, long live Intel.
- charcircuit 2y ago
  >when developers use an unsigned int as a counter and it rolls to zero Yet, people wouldn't expect to return their CPU if this happened. The entire technology stack of a computer is filled with bugs, yet people are able to use them to great utility every day.
inetknght 2y ago
> not providing a practical example where the average consumer can be harmed by this bug. Why is a practical example necessary in this case? Why are you not able to recognize the very serious harms that were already described by people 30 years ago and during the intervening time? Why are you demanding that I spend my time to find and give you that information instead of you? I am not your personal tutor.
- charcircuit 2y ago
  Look at my original comment. I asking for a clarification on why the other person believes that intel was wrong and a risk actually was present. Instead of backing up the claim people swarmed me with hypothetical scenarios that don't prove that those scenarios were common enough to happen and cause a problem. I am not demanding your time. You were the one who joined the conversation smugly asserting you knew better than me. You could have just ignored me if you didn't want to answer my question.