MC: Ping-Pong Cubes

[pier4r]

(05-27-2018 05:18 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  These days computer time is a lot cheaper than developer time

I had some hard time to crack this sentence (that is very common on subreddits like /r/sysadmin , /r/cscareerquestions and so on). I mean I know that a computing device is cheaper than an employee, but I often though it was nonetheless a waste of computing power.

Then I realized that also the brain is quite some computing device - although more for problem solving. In general the solution of a problem should be computed from the start and not only when the computing device runs. So if I use more refined techniques that takes more time to bring me the solution, would be faster - as described by David Hayden - to use a less refined technique that let me reach the solution faster.

That is: "running time" is only a part of the "solution time". So if I solve something with a state of the art algorithm in assembly and I take 3 months, of which 4 minutes for the computation, while someone else does it in gw-basic with a almost brute force algorithm and takes 3 days, of which 2.5 days for the computation, the latter is better.

Of course it depends on the context. For a function often used, say in a framework, in embedded devices, in devices/services sold/used by hundreds of people or more, then it is better to optimize it a little bit.