Hardware Is Cheap, Programmers Are Expensive

Sportsqs points out a story at Coding Horror which begins: "Given the rapid advance of Moore's Law, when does it make sense to throw hardware at a programming problem? As a general rule, I'd say almost always. Consider the average programmer salary here in the US. You probably have several of these programmer guys or gals on staff. I can't speak to how much your servers may cost, or how many of them you may need. Or, maybe you don't need any — perhaps all your code executes on your users' hardware, which is an entirely different scenario. Obviously, situations vary. But even the most rudimentary math will tell you that it'd take a massive hardware outlay to equal the yearly costs of even a modest five person programming team."

Comments

Re:But who's going to fly it?

[tinkertim]

"10,000! We could almost buy our own ship for that!" "Yeah, but who's going to fly it kid? You?"

Typical Management Response:
"You bet I could!, I'm not such a bad programmer myself!"

Re:Timing is everything

[ijakings]

Yeh but you have to appreciate where all this enormous amount of hardware, enormous amount of hardware goes. It doesnt just come on a truck you can dump things on, it has to come via a series of tubes. Oh... Wait.

Re:Frist?

[couchslug]

"Natalie Portman can't act for shit and she has the tits of an 11-year old girl. Grits are bland and best served to the inbred, down-syndrome-afflicted inhabitants of the Southern United States."

OK, OK, ya got me horny, hungry, and nostalgic for the folks back home, but what was your point?

Re:Assuming of course hardware is the bottleneck

[ScrewMaster]

I remember being subject to a class called Data Structures & Algorithms ...

Yes, I believe Nicholas Wirth taught that one. Supposedly when you've added the Data Structures to the Algorithms, you get Programs or something.

First Java Post?

[tomhudson]

When developers ask for a new monitor or dual monitors, let them have 'em but mandate that the monitors be in a vertical orientation [about.com]as opposed to the typical horizontal orientation. That way, they'll have to use the monitors for efficient viewing of code rather than watching movies all day long. It's such a simple idea that I'm surprised that more businesses and coders haven't caught on to it.

Who will be the first to post "ICodeInJavaWithClassesWithReallyReallyReallyLongNames.youIgnorantClod();" ?

Re:First Java Post?

[shutdown -p now]

std::i_code_in_cpp_with_crptc_cls_names::you_insns_clod();

Re:Another u.s. specific problem. cost of living

[0xdeadbeef]

extremism is bad at EVERYthing.

See? You used the shift key. That wasn't so hard, now, was it?

Re:Recalculate for the crisis

[0xdeadbeef]

I will send you $20 bucks if you post a photo of yourself holding a sign that says "A non-white immigrant paid me $20 to hold this sign."

Re:programmers save lifetimes

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone evil (like me) may ponder the other side of that. If I can *put* another 5 seconds on the boot time then I can effectively kill 50 people and get away with it. But then I'm a bastard.