Slashdot Mirror
The Future of Computing
An anonymous reader writes "Penn State computer science professor Max Fomitchev explains that computing has evolved in a spiral pattern from a centralized model to a distributed model that retains some aspects of centralized computing. Single-task PC operating systems (OSes) evolved into multitasking OSes to make the most of increasing CPU power, and the introduction of the graphical user interface at the same time reduced CPU performance and fueled demands for even more efficiencies. "The role of CPU performance is definitely waning, and if a radical new technology fails to materialize quickly we will be compelled to write more efficient code for power consumption costs and reasons," Fomitchev writes. Slow, bloated software entails higher costs in terms of both direct and indirect power consumption, and the author reasons that code optimization will likely involve the replacement of blade server racks with microblade server racks where every microblade executes a dedicated task and thus eats up less power. The collective number of microblades should also far outnumber initial "macro" blades. Fully isolating software components should enhance the system's robustness thanks to the potential of real-time component hot-swap or upgrade and the total removal of software installation, implementation, and patch conflicts. The likelihood of this happening is reliant on the factor of energy costs, which directly feeds into the factor of code optimization efficiency."
Well, they keep thinking that 100 developpers can do the same job as a handful of good developpers. That's wrong most of the time, as in "9 women can have one baby in one month".
Writing small is difficult and I don't think it can be done in a group. Most software which is small is written bij less then 3 programmers.
Compare: "Easy writing makes hard reading." -- Ernest Hemingway
What I cannot create, I do not understand
Today we have bulky boxen and entire rooms filled with computers. We have computers taking up space in our offices and homes. We dedicate energy to just keeping them cool. Tommorow (ok, so not really tommorow, probably in the semi-distant future) we won't really see computers at all in terms of our daily routines. They'll be so miniaturized as to become transparent. The only aspect of computing we'll see in our daily lives will be the user interfaces. The actual computers themselves will be invisible, or at least barely noticeable. They'll become mere extensions of our every whim, capable of reinforcing and improving our minds in a seamless fashion. That, I believe, is the future of computing.
Take for example Google. What happens when you can query a search into google without actually interfacing with an external device like a laptop with a wireless internet connection? Or into Wikipedia? You'll be able to answer questions within seconds of being asked. Maybe less. This is a bigger change than you might think. Where does this leave conventional schooling, for example?
To me, it's exciting. And I wish it were here already.
TLF
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
No, bloat is avoidable yet not avoided in high level languages too. For example, I wrote an RSS and Atom library in Ruby, because I didn't like the one in the standard library--it was ugly code and badly documented. I expected my replacement to be slower and larger, because it was clean understandable code. To my surprise it was half the size and twice as fast. But we're still stuck with the crappy one, because it was the first one hacked together and therefore became part of the standard libraries. And that's the root problem--we have a culture where implementation speed is valued over everything else.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak