Programming Modern Systems Like It Was 1984 (2014)
6 months ago
- #programming
- #software-development
- #technology-evolution
- Technology should serve to implement ideas, not exist for its own sake.
- A hypothetical programmer from 1984 waking up in 2014 would face vastly different development environments due to advancements in computing power and languages.
- In 1984, high-level languages existed but were impractical due to hardware limitations, creating a divide between theoretical computer science and practical application.
- Modern development should leverage high-level, expressive languages previously set aside due to hardware constraints.
- Highly optimizing compilers are often not worth the risk given the immense speed improvements of modern hardware.
- Programs should run instantaneously; inefficiencies like slow loading times or bloated updates are unnecessary and should be questioned.
- Applications should be designed as small, communicating executables to leverage multi-core processors and improve component isolation.
- Avoid writing temporary files to disk; utilize abundant RAM instead.
- Complexity in modern systems necessitates isolating oneself from excessive libraries and APIs to avoid entanglement in details.
- Despite its age and lack of a module system, C remains in use, highlighting the inertia in programming language adoption.