[Info-vax] x86 Update 4/22/19

[Phillip Helbig undress to reply]

In article <qa2m07$1ve8$1 at gioia.aioe.org>, =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajhøj?=
<arne at vajhoej.dk> writes: 

> > There was a time when programmers actually gave consideration
> > to size and efficiency and bloat was not the desired result.
> > Resources were not what most today are used to.  I was once
> > asked to program an LSI-11 because my co-workers all said it
> > was impossible to do anything useful with only 28KWords of
> > memory.
> 
> Yes.
> 
> But given that ECC RAM today is about 6 dollars per GB, then
> it is difficult to justify spending days/weeks on reducing
> memory consumption.

Of course this plays a role.  20 years ago, I paid 500 guilders for a 
4-GB disk.  Today, disks are 10 cents per GB or whatever.  25 years ago, 
pricing workstations, we figured 100 marks per MB of RAM.  Times have 
changed.

On the other hand, when people can include whole libraries just because 
they can, even if most or all of the stuff isn't needed, code can be 
unnecessarily complicated.  One needs to find a balance.