Jonathan Blow

Replies seem to be rat-holing on the old well-understood concept that software is slow. Yeah, we know, I have said that many times (and said to ignore that this time). What I am highlighting here is a deeper issue: programmers don't really know what computers are any more.

Speed is one dimension of understanding that's lacking; the picture of speed in programmers' heads is 2-4 orders of magnitude too slow. It's easy to see and understand this, which is why I brought it up. But it's not the only dimension of missing understanding.

To make the speed point again, for an attempt at clarity: Programmers have a picture of their computer, in their minds, that they use to figure out what to do. For 99.9%+, that picture is inaccurate: the imagined computer is 100x-1000x slower than the real computer.

This will result in software that's too slow, obviously. But it also affects what one thinks is possible, what one dares to imagine to do. That is the more important part. Humans are very example-based, and if our examples are wrong, where they lead us will be wrong too.

By the same logic rockets wouldn’t work because people can’t walk fast enough on their hands. Sounds like TED talk fluffery

If you try to design rockets, and the imagined rocket in your head is 1000x off the capabilities of a real rocket, you probably ain't getting to orbit. I am not sure where walking-on-hands comes from.

You’re using singularity level fluff talk to inflate the basic concept that the better you understand a system the better you can work with it.

Are you a programmer?