The Religion of Speed

https://graybearding.bearblog.dev/the-religion-of-speed/

by rglover • 2 months ago

4 3 2 months ago

graybearding.bearblog.dev

PaulHoule• 2 months ago

I don't buy it. It used to be you typed into a 1980s home computer and characters appeared the instant you typed them. With a modern computer, it could take a few seconds for characters to echo. If the system administrator wanted to pull up a process list on a PDP-11 running RSTS/E or an IBM 370 mainframe they could type a command and... there.

If your Windows computer is running slow, it might take 20 seconds or more for the task manager to start. Computers are orders of magnitude more powerful than they were back then but perceived speed is an order of magnitude worse and getting worse.

People who deny SLOW = BAD are part of the problem, not the solution. We really have to create a culture where slow software, slow builds and slow responses are seen as completely unacceptable.

rglover• 2 months ago

I'm talking about organizational/individual behavior here, not performance/system speed. I'd agree that slow = bad in that sense is correct (i.e., you should care about the speed of the system).

btrettel• 2 months ago

I think the type of speed that you're referring to is different from the type of speed the linked article is referring to. I'm not sure what the best way to distinguish the two is. With slow software, you're presumably getting a right answer, just slower. In my job, people who work quickly often produce a wrong answer.

The Religion of Speed

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