Speed now & then

[Chuck Guzis]

I'm reminded of how fast things have gotten when I use some of my old
media conversion code developed on an 8088 PC, that's been recompiled to
run under 64-bit Linux on a reasonably fast CPU (3GHz quad-core AMD).

I'd sit back for a couple of minutes waiting for the code to churn
through the data and create files and write them to disk.

Now, with essentially the same code, it's done before I can lift my
finger off the RETURN key--150 or 200 files' worth of data.

It strikes me as odd how little time we actually spend today computing
(other than bitcoin mining) in comparison to drawing pictures on a screen.

Back in the day, I often fantasized at what I would do if I had a
processor 10 times faster than the 70s supercomputer I was using.
Little did I suspect that I'd be using the processing power 40-some
years later to watch TV.

--Chuck