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  4. Sutton's Zeroth Law

Sutton's Zeroth Law

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  • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

    Dan Sutton wrote:

    And since the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant

    FTFY. :)


    "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

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    Member_5893260
    wrote on last edited by
    #10

    I thought about it... but that's not strictly true, anyway, if you consider the relativistic effects of high-density, high-mass objects: in fact, "the speed of light in a vacuum around a given mass is a constant" -- but that's not true, either, because the speed of light is the speed at which one can circumnavigate the universe once in a period of one universe lifetime... and since the universe is expanding, that value is changing constantly (along with the size of a meter, and so forth)... so effectively, the speed of light is a constant only because we want it to be.

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    • J Jorgen Andersson

      Seems a bit incomplete to me, you need to add the number of managers, and the level of customer involvement AKA feature creep. :~

      Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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      Member_5893260
      wrote on last edited by
      #11

      I'll buy that. Change "programmers" to "people". LOL!

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      • M Member_5893260

        I'll buy that. Change "programmers" to "people". LOL!

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        Jorgen Andersson
        wrote on last edited by
        #12

        I was thinking more in the lines of: NQM(2f+1)/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - M is the number of managers on the project; - f is feature creep (in percents of the original number of features); - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

        Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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        • J Jorgen Andersson

          I was thinking more in the lines of: NQM(2f+1)/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - M is the number of managers on the project; - f is feature creep (in percents of the original number of features); - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

          Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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          Lost User
          wrote on last edited by
          #13

          Why 2f+1 and not f+1 ?

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          • L Lost User

            Why 2f+1 and not f+1 ?

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            Jorgen Andersson
            wrote on last edited by
            #14

            Doubling the number of features doesn't just double the time needed as it's also adding complexity. Hmm, it's probably more like (f+1)2 when I think about it.

            Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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            • J Jorgen Andersson

              I was thinking more in the lines of: NQM(2f+1)/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - M is the number of managers on the project; - f is feature creep (in percents of the original number of features); - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

              Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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              Member_5893260
              wrote on last edited by
              #15

              Brilliant! Although... since you don't want to affect N inversely with M, then I suggest: (N^(M(2f+1)))Q/t=c ...which, since M implies 2f+1, could theoretically be shortened to: (N^M)Q/t=c (or else, we could include a constant to state the probability of someone posting a thread like this...)

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              • M Member_5893260

                Here's my zeroth law of software development, which I now share for your amusement: NQ/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

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                MacSpudster
                wrote on last edited by
                #16

                NQ/t=c is incorrect. It is: NQ/t=C^2 Where "C" = Change; as in "_________ in my pocket" from all of the "_________ requests"

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                • M MacSpudster

                  NQ/t=c is incorrect. It is: NQ/t=C^2 Where "C" = Change; as in "_________ in my pocket" from all of the "_________ requests"

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                  Member_5893260
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #17

                  That's the spirit!

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                  • J Jorgen Andersson

                    I was thinking more in the lines of: NQM(2f+1)/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - M is the number of managers on the project; - f is feature creep (in percents of the original number of features); - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

                    Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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                    SoMad
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #18

                    I think we are getting somewhere, but you also need to account for "New Technology" with a heavier factor than feature creep (e.g. "We are going to change our platform to be all in the Cloud"). Soren Madsen

                    "When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty

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                    • S SoMad

                      I think we are getting somewhere, but you also need to account for "New Technology" with a heavier factor than feature creep (e.g. "We are going to change our platform to be all in the Cloud"). Soren Madsen

                      "When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty

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                      Jorgen Andersson
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #19

                      Nah, a new technology is a whole load of features in one go, you just need to break them apart and the formula will still work.

                      Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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                      • L Lost User

                        Why 2f+1 and not f+1 ?

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                        PIEBALDconsult
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #20

                        learner'sbug wrote:

                        not f+1 ?

                        Because f+1 is a race with no passing.

                        This space intentionally left blank.

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                        • M Member_5893260

                          Here's my zeroth law of software development, which I now share for your amusement: NQ/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

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                          0bx
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #21

                          Not so sure about that. If either N or Q are 0, then c = 0. Knowing this and assuming c is a constant, then t = lim(x->inf), or lim(x->-inf).

                          .

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                          • M Member_5893260

                            I thought about it... but that's not strictly true, anyway, if you consider the relativistic effects of high-density, high-mass objects: in fact, "the speed of light in a vacuum around a given mass is a constant" -- but that's not true, either, because the speed of light is the speed at which one can circumnavigate the universe once in a period of one universe lifetime... and since the universe is expanding, that value is changing constantly (along with the size of a meter, and so forth)... so effectively, the speed of light is a constant only because we want it to be.

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                            robocodeboy
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #22

                            No. In a vacuum the speed of light is constant. No exceptions. The light can be bent by mass, but not slowed down. The universe is expanding, yes, so the light is going to need more and more time to travel across it, but the speed is still constant. No implications about it. In fact, relativity states that the speed of light in a vacuum is the ONLY thing that remains constant in different reference systems. Which can get you down in a very deep rabbit hole: time shrinks and space expands, but whoever are you, wherever are you, you will still get around 300'000 km/s for a ray of light in a vacuum.

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                            • R robocodeboy

                              No. In a vacuum the speed of light is constant. No exceptions. The light can be bent by mass, but not slowed down. The universe is expanding, yes, so the light is going to need more and more time to travel across it, but the speed is still constant. No implications about it. In fact, relativity states that the speed of light in a vacuum is the ONLY thing that remains constant in different reference systems. Which can get you down in a very deep rabbit hole: time shrinks and space expands, but whoever are you, wherever are you, you will still get around 300'000 km/s for a ray of light in a vacuum.

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                              Member_5893260
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #23

                              Yes, but the size of a kilometer changes as the universe expands. So does the size of the instruments used to measure it, and the atoms constituting said instruments, so we don't notice... but to an outside (the universe) observer, a difference would be noticeable.

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                              • 0 0bx

                                Not so sure about that. If either N or Q are 0, then c = 0. Knowing this and assuming c is a constant, then t = lim(x->inf), or lim(x->-inf).

                                .

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                                Member_5893260
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #24

                                Well, it almost makes sense: if you have no programmers, it's not really supposed to mean anything...

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                                • M Member_5893260

                                  I thought about it... but that's not strictly true, anyway, if you consider the relativistic effects of high-density, high-mass objects: in fact, "the speed of light in a vacuum around a given mass is a constant" -- but that's not true, either, because the speed of light is the speed at which one can circumnavigate the universe once in a period of one universe lifetime... and since the universe is expanding, that value is changing constantly (along with the size of a meter, and so forth)... so effectively, the speed of light is a constant only because we want it to be.

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                                  Tim Carmichael
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #25

                                  Is the universe expanding, or it is simply our abilty to see further into the universe that is expanding? If we can't see the reaches of the universe, how can we know that it is expanding? And, if it is expanding, what is it expanding into? Does the absence of matter mean that space doesn't exist?

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                                  • T Tim Carmichael

                                    Is the universe expanding, or it is simply our abilty to see further into the universe that is expanding? If we can't see the reaches of the universe, how can we know that it is expanding? And, if it is expanding, what is it expanding into? Does the absence of matter mean that space doesn't exist?

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                                    Member_5893260
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #26

                                    Well, the general consensus is that it's expanding because everything we observe out there is somewhat red-shifted, thus the Doppler effect tells us that everything's retreating from everything else. The question of what it's expanding into is more interesting: my own theory which I've held for a long time, and which is now becoming accepted by various factions within astrophysics, is that the universe is actually an exploding singularity within a larger universe: this explains several things, such as the fact that the size of the universe is (mathematically) much greater than it should be. In theory, if the universe is 13.7 billion years old (as is currently stated) then its radius should be 13.7 billion light years, since it shouldn't be possible for it to expand faster than the speed of light. But in fact, it's something like twice that: a conundrum which has stumped physicists for a while now. However, if the universe is an exploding singularity, then its theoretical radius is determined by the radius of the event horizon of the black hole surrounding such a singularity -- into which matter can fall from outside. This would explain massive objects on the boundaries of what we can see - such as quasars and so on - which conventional closed-system theory cannot explain - and also where all that extra mass came from. There would be a shift in perception between what we can see and the universe outside, simply because of the time dilation effect one would perceive when approaching a large center of mass. Furthermore, if one were to calculate the distribution of matter inside a black hole with the mass of the universe, then one would actually come out with a distribution of matter virtually identical to what we can see now. My theory goes on to state that (a) all singularities detonate at the instant they form (having achieved critical mass), but that because of the time dilation effect, an outside observer would not detect the explosion: it would appear to take an almost infinite time to occur (although, to an entity inside the exploding black hole, time would proceed at a regular pace, with the "outside" appearing almost infinitely slow, and thus unfathomable: there would be a definite interface between "inside" and "outside"; and that (b) a singularity is not zero-sized at all, but is in fact one Planck length: this removes the problem of it actually taking an infinite length of time for the explosion to occur (as seen from outside). This theory is supported by the fact that known black holes, such as the superma

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                                    • M Member_5893260

                                      Well, the general consensus is that it's expanding because everything we observe out there is somewhat red-shifted, thus the Doppler effect tells us that everything's retreating from everything else. The question of what it's expanding into is more interesting: my own theory which I've held for a long time, and which is now becoming accepted by various factions within astrophysics, is that the universe is actually an exploding singularity within a larger universe: this explains several things, such as the fact that the size of the universe is (mathematically) much greater than it should be. In theory, if the universe is 13.7 billion years old (as is currently stated) then its radius should be 13.7 billion light years, since it shouldn't be possible for it to expand faster than the speed of light. But in fact, it's something like twice that: a conundrum which has stumped physicists for a while now. However, if the universe is an exploding singularity, then its theoretical radius is determined by the radius of the event horizon of the black hole surrounding such a singularity -- into which matter can fall from outside. This would explain massive objects on the boundaries of what we can see - such as quasars and so on - which conventional closed-system theory cannot explain - and also where all that extra mass came from. There would be a shift in perception between what we can see and the universe outside, simply because of the time dilation effect one would perceive when approaching a large center of mass. Furthermore, if one were to calculate the distribution of matter inside a black hole with the mass of the universe, then one would actually come out with a distribution of matter virtually identical to what we can see now. My theory goes on to state that (a) all singularities detonate at the instant they form (having achieved critical mass), but that because of the time dilation effect, an outside observer would not detect the explosion: it would appear to take an almost infinite time to occur (although, to an entity inside the exploding black hole, time would proceed at a regular pace, with the "outside" appearing almost infinitely slow, and thus unfathomable: there would be a definite interface between "inside" and "outside"; and that (b) a singularity is not zero-sized at all, but is in fact one Planck length: this removes the problem of it actually taking an infinite length of time for the explosion to occur (as seen from outside). This theory is supported by the fact that known black holes, such as the superma

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                                      Tim Carmichael
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #27

                                      A well reasoned explanation, which is better than most of the time when it is simply stated 'scientists say...' and to counter that simple arguement is to invite ridicule. While I may not understand what you wrote, or agree with it, as I said, it is a possible, well explained answer. Thank you, Tim

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                                      • T Tim Carmichael

                                        A well reasoned explanation, which is better than most of the time when it is simply stated 'scientists say...' and to counter that simple arguement is to invite ridicule. While I may not understand what you wrote, or agree with it, as I said, it is a possible, well explained answer. Thank you, Tim

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                                        Member_5893260
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #28

                                        Thanks! [Disclaimer: I'm not sure I agree with it, either, but it does have the benefit of being an explanation which isn't currently disprovable, and which does explain a lot of "that weird shit" which seems to plague the field...!]

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                                        • M Member_5893260

                                          Well, it almost makes sense: if you have no programmers, it's not really supposed to mean anything...

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                                          0bx
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #29

                                          Yes, no programmers means zero enthropy. It also means that either everything is working fine and the visible problem space is zero... or total economic collapse.

                                          .

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