2 ms·

What does "real-time" mean? Oh yeah, it means "faster than our competitors." And "stream" means "the Cell marketing team encouraged us to use the word 'stream

by dkarl 17y ago

What does "real-time" mean? Oh yeah, it means "faster than our competitors." And "stream" means "the Cell marketing team encouraged us to use the word 'stream' a lot." Factor out those two buzzwords, and you have an article about IBM releasing some software that analyzes data really fast and helps you make decisions based on that data. If newspapers are in such dire financial straits they really need to start charging for stuff like this.

wmf 17y ago
I know I shouldn't, but... What does "real-time" mean? It means that data is processed at the same rate that it is produced. (Or as Wikipedia says, "originally it referred to a simulation that proceeded at a rate that matched that of the real process it was simulating.") A side effect of real-time is that RAM can be used for buffering rather than using disk for storage. And "stream" means "the Cell marketing team encouraged us to use the word 'stream' a lot." Wikipedia defines a stream as "a succession of data elements made available over time" and stream processing as "the quasi-continuous flow of data which is processed in a dataflow programming language as soon as the program state meets the starting condition of the stream". I don't think System S even runs on Cell. While "real-time" and "stream" are too frequently used as buzzwords these days, IBM is actually using them correctly in this case.
- dkarl 17y ago
  "Real-time" is relative to the time scale on which you look at it. Nobody dealing with a daily flow of business data actually falls behind and ends up making decisions on older and older data because processing is backed up. "Real-time" just means "faster;" it's relative to human expectations. If seismic data gathered this morning were processed and available for inspection late this afternoon, that would be "real-time." If an MRI was performed this morning, and the image wasn't available until this afternoon, that would not be "real-time." It's a mooshy term -- it has meaning in a specific domain, relative to human expectations in that domain. In the article, outside any specific domain, it doesn't mean anything. "a succession of data elements made available over time" and stream processing as "the quasi-continuous flow of data which is processed in... Basically automated batch processing where the "chunkiness" lies beneath a certain threshold of perception. While "real-time" and "stream" are too frequently used as buzzwords these days, IBM is actually using them correctly in this case. How can you tell? If you have a better link, with real information, post it!
  - scott_s 17y ago
    http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1376616.1376729 http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1376616.1376729 http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1289612.1289615 http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1289612.1289615
    - dkarl 17y ago
      This looks interesting. Now if somebody could explain how I was supposed to realize there was something interesting behind that crappy New York Times article (short of already knowing?) My original post got modded into oblivion, but I stand by it. The article looks like press material provided by IBM and lightly worked over by the Times writer whose name appears on it.
      - wmf 17y ago
        I know where you're coming from; I love writing cynical "buzzword alarm" comments. This time you got unlucky and criticized a legitimate project; I wouldn't worry too much about it.
        dkarl 17y ago
        Just because marketing drivel happens to be true doesn't make it right to post it on Hacker News. A stopped clock is right twice a day. I don't have anything against the project, just the fact that the marketroids got their copy published in the New York Times and then linked on Hacker News.
        wmf 17y ago
        Yeah, I wish people would submit the technical papers instead.
joshu 17y ago
real-time is defined as "will process in a deterministic amount of time" in systems. a processor could make a hard commitment to have an answer in 3ms or whatever. this is hard to guarantee on linux or whatever, because you never know when you'll get swapped out or whatever.

by dkarl 17y ago

wmf 17y ago

I know I shouldn't, but... What does "real-time" mean? It means that data is processed at the same rate that it is produced. (Or as Wikipedia says, "originally it referred to a simulation that proceeded at a rate that matched that of the real process it was simulating.") A side effect of real-time is that RAM can be used for buffering rather than using disk for storage. And "stream" means "the Cell marketing team encouraged us to use the word 'stream' a lot." Wikipedia defines a stream as "a succession of data elements made available over time" and stream processing as "the quasi-continuous flow of data which is processed in a dataflow programming language as soon as the program state meets the starting condition of the stream". I don't think System S even runs on Cell. While "real-time" and "stream" are too frequently used as buzzwords these days, IBM is actually using them correctly in this case.

dkarl 17y ago
"Real-time" is relative to the time scale on which you look at it. Nobody dealing with a daily flow of business data actually falls behind and ends up making decisions on older and older data because processing is backed up. "Real-time" just means "faster;" it's relative to human expectations. If seismic data gathered this morning were processed and available for inspection late this afternoon, that would be "real-time." If an MRI was performed this morning, and the image wasn't available until this afternoon, that would not be "real-time." It's a mooshy term -- it has meaning in a specific domain, relative to human expectations in that domain. In the article, outside any specific domain, it doesn't mean anything. "a succession of data elements made available over time" and stream processing as "the quasi-continuous flow of data which is processed in... Basically automated batch processing where the "chunkiness" lies beneath a certain threshold of perception. While "real-time" and "stream" are too frequently used as buzzwords these days, IBM is actually using them correctly in this case. How can you tell? If you have a better link, with real information, post it!
- scott_s 17y ago
  http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1376616.1376729 http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1376616.1376729 http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1289612.1289615 http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1289612.1289615
  - dkarl 17y ago
    This looks interesting. Now if somebody could explain how I was supposed to realize there was something interesting behind that crappy New York Times article (short of already knowing?) My original post got modded into oblivion, but I stand by it. The article looks like press material provided by IBM and lightly worked over by the Times writer whose name appears on it.
    - wmf 17y ago
      I know where you're coming from; I love writing cynical "buzzword alarm" comments. This time you got unlucky and criticized a legitimate project; I wouldn't worry too much about it.
      - dkarl 17y ago
        Just because marketing drivel happens to be true doesn't make it right to post it on Hacker News. A stopped clock is right twice a day. I don't have anything against the project, just the fact that the marketroids got their copy published in the New York Times and then linked on Hacker News.
        wmf 17y ago
        Yeah, I wish people would submit the technical papers instead.

joshu 17y ago

real-time is defined as "will process in a deterministic amount of time" in systems. a processor could make a hard commitment to have an answer in 3ms or whatever. this is hard to guarantee on linux or whatever, because you never know when you'll get swapped out or whatever.