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from the C,-C-Rust,-C-Rust-Go,-Go-Rust-Go! dept.
In which ESR pontificates on the future while reflecting on the past.
I was thinking a couple of days ago about the new wave of systems languages now challenging C for its place at the top of the systems-programming heap – Go and Rust, in particular. I reached a startling realization – I have 35 years of experience in C. I write C code pretty much every week, but I can no longer remember when I last started a new project in C!
...
I started to program just a few years before the explosive spread of C swamped assembler and pretty much every other compiled language out of mainstream existence. I'd put that transition between about 1982 and 1985. Before that, there were multiple compiled languages vying for a working programmer's attention, with no clear leader among them; after, most of the minor ones were simply wiped out. The majors (FORTRAN, Pascal, COBOL) were either confined to legacy code, retreated to single-platform fortresses, or simply ran on inertia under increasing pressure from C around the edges of their domains.Then it stayed that way for nearly thirty years. Yes, there was motion in applications programming; Java, Perl, Python, and various less successful contenders. Early on these affected what I did very little, in large part because their runtime overhead was too high for practicality on the hardware of the time. Then, of course, there was the lock-in effect of C's success; to link to any of the vast mass of pre-existing C you had to write new code in C (several scripting languages tried to break that barrier, but only Python would have significant success at it).
One to RTFA rather than summarize. Don't worry, this isn't just ESR writing about how great ESR is.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Saturday November 11 2017, @02:09PM (1 child)
I know it's not a perfect analogy, but I still think it is a good one. Sure there is work still being done on improving concrete itself but it is tinkering, if you take, say, skyscrapers the basic foundation design is concrete piles and concrete mat/raft - Chicago has been building on concrete piles for over a century, some sets of piles have even been reused for new buildings. Sears/willis (1970) sits on a bunch of concrete piles and a mat, so does Burj Khalifa (c2004), so does the BT Tower in London (50yrs old) and the Shard (2009) on the other side of the river. Skyscraper foundations were a problem before 1900 (big problems in Chicago), but for at least the last 50yrs - solved problem.
Automobile brakes? Yes, buuuttt... hybrids and EVs have brought re-gen braking, an addition rather than replacement but nonetheless arguably a major change. The others - yep.
Computer keyboards getting worse - nah. My kids may argue over which colour cherry keyswitches they want, but the IBM Model M will always win simply because it is so much heavier and therefore shuts kids up so much faster when you hit them over the head with it :-) What is getting worse is the standard of keyboard provided with modern consumer computer kit - but that is just because most modern consumers don't actually need or want (to pay for) a decent keyboard, so it's been value-engineered out.
As to UI, yes it's gone backwards, and not just on the desktop. I don't think we will see 3D buttons on desktop again, because real live buttons no longer look or work that way. I can think of stacks of examples, too many to list, but I think we must have reached the tipping point where touch screen UIs are cheaper to design and build than physical moving buttons, because touchscreen-for-the-sake-of-it UI is all around us. UI discovery has moved from "what does this button do" to "where the **** do I prod the featureless bit of glass/plastic to get something to happen". UI design will now move on through gesture control to voice control, because we have to fix the mess we've made of physical UI somehow.
Voice control will get messed up too once we start making stuff too "smart" - refer to Douglas Adams' predictions from decades ago for this, he was actually a great observer (and predictor) of technology and UI. I give it maybe ten years before Alexa has a mode that analyses your tone of voice and will only open the door if you ask it nicely, it'll be a fair few more years before opening the door requires an argument and a threat to reprogram the computer with an axe (or counting, or maybe quoting C code at it!), but it'll happen.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday November 13 2017, @01:31AM
Automobile brakes? Yes, buuuttt... hybrids and EVs have brought re-gen braking, an addition rather than replacement but nonetheless arguably a major change.
I disagree; it's an addition like you said, not a change at all to the actual mechanics of the friction brakes. They're the same; they're just not actuated quite the same. This is splitting hairs perhaps.
Computer keyboards getting worse - nah. My kids may argue over which colour cherry keyswitches they want, but the IBM Model M will always win simply because it is so much heavier
The Model M is only still made by one tiny company for enthusiasts (and even there, it's generally said to not be quite as good as the originals). Back in the "old days", those keyboards used to be ubiquitous and standard, and others were somewhat similar even if not quite as good (such as the old Dell Quietkey).
What is getting worse is the standard of keyboard provided with modern consumer computer kit
And see, this is the problem: you can only use a dedicated keyboard with a desktop computer or a docking station or if you plug it into a USB port on your laptop. You won't be taking it with you, and these days, most PC users have laptops, not desktops, so we're pretty much stuck with whatever craptastic keyboard they build in. For a while, it wasn't so bad: the Thinkpad keyboards were generally considered the very best, and the Dell Latitude keyboards a close runner-up, while keyboards on cheaper laptops were generally crap. Not any more; the keyboards on both Thinkpads and Latitudes have gone down the tubes, with the adoption of the "island" keyboard scheme.
I don't think we will see 3D buttons on desktop again, because real live buttons no longer look or work that way.
We still have real live buttons on some things. But they are fading. But even in cars, we still have knobs and buttons, though a few shitty brands have tried to eliminate them, but there's no agreement across the industry on this at all. Touchscreens are dangerous in cars if intended to control major functions while driving (they're fine for displaying info, and for accessing rarely-used settings).