On Jul 21, 2010, at 12:32 PM, James Therrault wrote: > > The faster machines become along with huge amounts of RAM, the sloppier code > gets. >
A common claim, but not really backed up by evidence... modern computers do a LOT more. Yes it lets people get away without hand-writing highly-optimized machine code for time-critical elements of a program under severe memory and cpu constraints, but on the other hand, stuff like Photoshop CS5's magic "Remove Trotsky" Content-aware fill tool is just not possible writing that kind of code. You NEED more code to do the things we ask our computers to do. > I remember my first computer, a Commodore 64 would run a full featured flight > simulator with only 41K available RAM. Really? Full Featured? Can it import DEM files for accurate terrain portrayal? 3D accurate city models, with textures so you can fly around the Empire State Building if you want? Did it let you define the flight envelope of the simulated plane? How accurate was the aerodynamic model? Did the FAA let you use it for certifiable training purposes (As it does for some modern flight sims?) Go run it, then go run X-plane on a modern system. You can set it up to race BD-5's (or F-22's, for that matter) through the Grand Canyon if you want...<http://www.x-plane.com/> We often have a lot of nostalgia for the 'olden days' without a lot of regard for how amazingly far we've come. I had an opportunity to watch Pixar's "Tin Toy" again not too long ago. I remember being utterly blown away with how GOOD it looked when it first came out (and I wasn't the only one...it DID win a technical Oscar). I was more than a little shocked at how crude it looks today. There are scenes in it where the baby's clothes buckle into his body, and places where his legs fold unnaturally as he moves, and there's a distinct disconnect between the baby's movements and his actual locomotion along the floor in several places. ALL the surfaces have simple specular reflections, so everything looks like it's molded out of plastic. And this was done by the best pros in the business at the time. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
