[sclug] Who has the key to your Vista PC?

[Alex Butcher]

On Tue, 6 Feb 2007, ed wrote:

> why doesnt software become *MORE* efficient with time, rather than less?
> seems daft to me, programmers get more skilful over time, why don't they
> write with c more than with c#? surely it's better to become more
> sophisticated rather than less.
>
> probably boils down to money..

Indirectly, yes.

Time is money, as the adage goes, whereas computers are continually getting
faster for less money, so (all things being equal) it's therefore cheaper
for programmers to use higher-level tools and pre-existing toolkits to
implement advanced functionality and run the resultant code on faster
hardware, rather that implement and debug everything from scratch to run as
well on slower hardware.

Obviously, if the intended platform has a limited power or memory 'budget'
(e.g. a PDA or phone) then this may force the use of lower-level languages
and toolkits.

Best Regards,
Alex.
-- 
Alex Butcher, Bristol UK.                           PGP/GnuPG ID:0x5010dbff

"[T]he whole point about the reason why I think it is important we go for
identity cards and an identity database today is that identity fraud and
abuse is a major, major problem. Now the civil liberties aspect of it, look
it is a view, I don't personally think it matters very much."
  - Tony Blair, 6 June 2006 <http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page9566.asp>