Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site cadovax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrba!cadovax!keithd From: keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) Newsgroups: net.micro,net.micro.apple Subject: Re: The Apple Shaft Message-ID: <141@cadovax.UUCP> Date: Thu, 27-Sep-84 13:49:07 EDT Article-I.D.: cadovax.141 Posted: Thu Sep 27 13:49:07 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 29-Sep-84 09:39:29 EDT References: <515@nmtvax.UUCP> Organization: Contel Cado, Torrance, CA Lines: 47 Xref: 7974 1192 [chew on this gibberish for awhile] Has anyone noticed that the size of programs always expand to fill the available memory? Does anyone out there really think that a 128k MAC will be useful 6 months from now? What else will we get with a 512k MAC except bigger programs that take longer to load? Is there any truth to rumors of MULTI-TASKING MAC software? And what about batch processing of command lists? What new USEFUL features have we really gotten? What USEFUL features have we lost in exchange for screen sex? This memory problem really irks me. The IBM has this problem too, and in spades. Remember the good old days when Wordstar was considered a BIG program in 24k? Now programmers can afford to use terribly inefficient compilers and write code in the quick-and-dirty. Is this good? Next we all get multi-tasking systems that put a premium on tight and re-entrant code so it dosen't hog the whole machine. Either that, or move to virtual memory type operating systems and just swap the hell out of everything. And while I'm at it, does anyone out there really thing that the wave of 16 bit processors really gave us higher performance? I think all it gave us was more addressing space. It STILL takes 2 bus transfers to load an address into the processor. And SURE we went to higher clock rates on processors, but with the new EXPANDED instruction sets instructions take 4 times (or more) as many clock cycles to execute! Instruction sets are larger, so instruction codes are bigger, and so are instructions. OBOY now we have more instruction fetch cycles per instruction and the code is larger. What used to run in 64k now runs in 256k JUST SO WE COULD HAVE MORE ADDRESSING RANGE! Is this progress? Disk space just got smaller. That's ok, you have a winchester? I think the only computer 'for the rest of us' is still an ATARI or COMMODORE. Don't get me wrong, I like screen sex, but there's more to life than just sex. but sex SELLS! Keith Doyle {ucbvax,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd