BRYAN RUST FULL

In fact, it was getting so fast, so quickly, that we actually had to slow computers down in order to play games that were written for the old machine. The 1980s and early 1990s were halcyon days in this respect: “You’d go get a new computer, and the one you bought just 18 months ago was obsolete.

BRYAN RUST FULL

(The full video sets the record straight on what Gordon Moore actually said). What’s commonly become known as “ Moore’s Law” - the observation that transistor density, speed and cost-efficiency double every two years or less - is the understandable starting point for discussions on process revolutions.

But when we advance performance with a software revolution, we are advancing performance because we’re using hardware better.” In his words: “Those software revolutions really boil down to ‘How can we better utilize hardware?’ We don’t always phrase it that way. Software revolutions that allowed us to better utilize hardware.Architectural revolutions that optimized for certain use cases.Process revolutions that propelled all designs.And even though hardware is not the beginning and end of all systems performance, it will ultimately limit our performance.”Ĭantrill believes three different kinds of revolutions have driven advances in systems performance, with economic feasibility looming over all of them: Hardware is the thing that actually runs our systems. The talk begins with a look at the inextricable tangle of hardware/software co-design and performance: “Hardware is the ultimate arbiter of our systems’ performance. She's currently senior director of content strategy at ScyllaDB. Cynthia has been writing about software development and testing for much longer than she cares to admit.

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