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Things that make you go "Wow!"

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  • P PeejayAdams

    As developers we often look at software and start reverse engineering it in our heads. There's plenty of stuff that might deeply impress us but we can figure out roughly how it does what it does even if we wouldn't be confident in writing it ourselves. Sometimes, though, you see something and think "Blimey! I wouldn't have come up with that in a million years. That's not code, that's sorcery!" For me, the Great Amazer has always been Shazam - yes, it's been around for years and I've read a fair old bit about the central fingerprinting algorithm (much of which has passed over my head) but it still absolutely blows me away. As Ozymandias put it: "look upon my works ye mighty and despair!" What does it for you?

    98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

    M Offline
    M Offline
    Marc Clifton
    wrote on last edited by
    #15

    PeejayAdams wrote:

    What does it for you?

    Self driving cars. SpaceX landing the first stage. On a barge. In the friggin' ocean!

    Latest Article - Building a Prototype Web-Based Diagramming Tool with SVG and Javascript Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802

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    • C CodeWraith

      At that time I still had fun with a real rifle, real ammo, ears ringing from the noise, the smell of the powder, real sand between the teeth and at every time of day, from high noon to pitch black night. Doom was boring against that.

      I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

      G Offline
      G Offline
      glennPattonWork3
      wrote on last edited by
      #16

      Alot things are, also safer, I'm not anti-gun, it's just idiots with guns worry me!

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      • P PeejayAdams

        As developers we often look at software and start reverse engineering it in our heads. There's plenty of stuff that might deeply impress us but we can figure out roughly how it does what it does even if we wouldn't be confident in writing it ourselves. Sometimes, though, you see something and think "Blimey! I wouldn't have come up with that in a million years. That's not code, that's sorcery!" For me, the Great Amazer has always been Shazam - yes, it's been around for years and I've read a fair old bit about the central fingerprinting algorithm (much of which has passed over my head) but it still absolutely blows me away. As Ozymandias put it: "look upon my works ye mighty and despair!" What does it for you?

        98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

        J Offline
        J Offline
        Johnny J
        wrote on last edited by
        #17

        I get the opposite feeling: Whenever I look at code I wrote say 10 years ago, I go: "Blimey! I would never, EVER do it that way now. Whatever was I thinking? That's not code, that's black magic!" :sigh:

        Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
        Anonymous
        -----
        The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
        Winston Churchill, 1944
        -----
        Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
        Mark Twain

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        • D den2k88

          Thanks for making me discover The Old New Thing.

          GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

          L Offline
          L Offline
          Lost User
          wrote on last edited by
          #18

          So it was an old new thing to you too? :D

          Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.

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          • G glennPattonWork3

            Alot things are, also safer, I'm not anti-gun, it's just idiots with guns worry me!

            C Offline
            C Offline
            CodeWraith
            wrote on last edited by
            #19

            Is that how you thank us for having made sure day and night that you never had to wake up one morning to discover that you had become a communist over night? :-)

            I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

            OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
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            • C CodeWraith

              Is that how you thank us for having made sure day and night that you never had to wake up one morning to discover that you had become a communist over night? :-)

              I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

              OriginalGriffO Offline
              OriginalGriffO Offline
              OriginalGriff
              wrote on last edited by
              #20

              He's a Bristiolian - they are already communists according to No 10... :laugh:

              Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

              "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
              "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

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              • P PeejayAdams

                As developers we often look at software and start reverse engineering it in our heads. There's plenty of stuff that might deeply impress us but we can figure out roughly how it does what it does even if we wouldn't be confident in writing it ourselves. Sometimes, though, you see something and think "Blimey! I wouldn't have come up with that in a million years. That's not code, that's sorcery!" For me, the Great Amazer has always been Shazam - yes, it's been around for years and I've read a fair old bit about the central fingerprinting algorithm (much of which has passed over my head) but it still absolutely blows me away. As Ozymandias put it: "look upon my works ye mighty and despair!" What does it for you?

                98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

                D Offline
                D Offline
                David ONeil
                wrote on last edited by
                #21

                The Dazzle Kaleidoscope program. For its time, you could tell that every single line was hand-crafted assembly because it made all other programs feel super slow. [Dazzle (1993) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV7T1eqnvas)

                The forgotten roots of science | C++ Programming | DWinLib

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                • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                  He's a Bristiolian - they are already communists according to No 10... :laugh:

                  Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

                  G Offline
                  G Offline
                  glennPattonWork3
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #22

                  I live in Bristol, but not a Bristolian (I don't need subtitles... :) )

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                  • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                    He's a Bristiolian - they are already communists according to No 10... :laugh:

                    Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

                    C Offline
                    C Offline
                    CodeWraith
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #23

                    Ah, ok. Communists without guns would not have been our customers at that time. :-)

                    I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • G glennPattonWork3

                      I live in Bristol, but not a Bristolian (I don't need subtitles... :) )

                      C Offline
                      C Offline
                      CodeWraith
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #24

                      So you infiltrate them and have a good eye on them?

                      I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

                      G 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • C CodeWraith

                        So you infiltrate them and have a good eye on them?

                        I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

                        G Offline
                        G Offline
                        glennPattonWork3
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #25

                        Quote:

                        So you infiltrate them and have a good eye on them?

                        OK why?

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                        • D David ONeil

                          The Dazzle Kaleidoscope program. For its time, you could tell that every single line was hand-crafted assembly because it made all other programs feel super slow. [Dazzle (1993) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV7T1eqnvas)

                          The forgotten roots of science | C++ Programming | DWinLib

                          P Offline
                          P Offline
                          PeejayAdams
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #26

                          Circa 1993 I was somewhat chuffed when I managed to render a Mandelbrot set in less than twenty minutes on a 386, so yes, that's pretty darned quick! Something else that impressed me a lot in those days was [Fractint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractint) which could render fractals in seconds rather than minutes by doing all the calculations with ints rather than floats.

                          98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

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                          • P PeejayAdams

                            Circa 1993 I was somewhat chuffed when I managed to render a Mandelbrot set in less than twenty minutes on a 386, so yes, that's pretty darned quick! Something else that impressed me a lot in those days was [Fractint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractint) which could render fractals in seconds rather than minutes by doing all the calculations with ints rather than floats.

                            98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

                            D Offline
                            D Offline
                            David ONeil
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #27

                            If you missed it, I released a Mandelbrot browser a couple weeks ago that allows you to zoom, pan, and recolor to your hearts content[^]! 1080p in approximately 0.2 seconds!

                            The forgotten roots of science | C++ Programming | DWinLib

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                            • P PeejayAdams

                              As developers we often look at software and start reverse engineering it in our heads. There's plenty of stuff that might deeply impress us but we can figure out roughly how it does what it does even if we wouldn't be confident in writing it ourselves. Sometimes, though, you see something and think "Blimey! I wouldn't have come up with that in a million years. That's not code, that's sorcery!" For me, the Great Amazer has always been Shazam - yes, it's been around for years and I've read a fair old bit about the central fingerprinting algorithm (much of which has passed over my head) but it still absolutely blows me away. As Ozymandias put it: "look upon my works ye mighty and despair!" What does it for you?

                              98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

                              L Offline
                              L Offline
                              Lost User
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #28

                              For me, it has always been the game StarFlight. How did they get so much awesome gameplay and adventure on a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk?

                              When you are dead, you won't even know that you are dead. It's a pain only felt by others. Same thing when you are stupid.

                              P 1 Reply Last reply
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                              • D David ONeil

                                If you missed it, I released a Mandelbrot browser a couple weeks ago that allows you to zoom, pan, and recolor to your hearts content[^]! 1080p in approximately 0.2 seconds!

                                The forgotten roots of science | C++ Programming | DWinLib

                                P Offline
                                P Offline
                                PeejayAdams
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #29

                                I did, indeed, miss it but look forward to taking a look. Thanks!

                                98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

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                                • L Lost User

                                  For me, it has always been the game StarFlight. How did they get so much awesome gameplay and adventure on a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk?

                                  When you are dead, you won't even know that you are dead. It's a pain only felt by others. Same thing when you are stupid.

                                  P Offline
                                  P Offline
                                  PeejayAdams
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #30

                                  Yes, there have certainly been some "how on earth did they fit that in there?" games over the years. Some of the 16k Spectrum things are amazing - [Way of the Exploding Fist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA5b8Zhdb7c) is a nice example.

                                  98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

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                                  • P PeejayAdams

                                    As developers we often look at software and start reverse engineering it in our heads. There's plenty of stuff that might deeply impress us but we can figure out roughly how it does what it does even if we wouldn't be confident in writing it ourselves. Sometimes, though, you see something and think "Blimey! I wouldn't have come up with that in a million years. That's not code, that's sorcery!" For me, the Great Amazer has always been Shazam - yes, it's been around for years and I've read a fair old bit about the central fingerprinting algorithm (much of which has passed over my head) but it still absolutely blows me away. As Ozymandias put it: "look upon my works ye mighty and despair!" What does it for you?

                                    98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

                                    Richard Andrew x64R Offline
                                    Richard Andrew x64R Offline
                                    Richard Andrew x64
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #31

                                    The thing that most makes me go "Wow" is how my GPS device can plan a route through real-world roads and take into account all the traffic laws, such as where you're not allowed to turn left, and such. Amazing! :)

                                    OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                                      The thing that most makes me go "Wow" is how my GPS device can plan a route through real-world roads and take into account all the traffic laws, such as where you're not allowed to turn left, and such. Amazing! :)

                                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                                      OriginalGriff
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #32

                                      ... and then direct you into a river and give up ... :laugh:

                                      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

                                      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                                      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

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                                      • P PeejayAdams

                                        As developers we often look at software and start reverse engineering it in our heads. There's plenty of stuff that might deeply impress us but we can figure out roughly how it does what it does even if we wouldn't be confident in writing it ourselves. Sometimes, though, you see something and think "Blimey! I wouldn't have come up with that in a million years. That's not code, that's sorcery!" For me, the Great Amazer has always been Shazam - yes, it's been around for years and I've read a fair old bit about the central fingerprinting algorithm (much of which has passed over my head) but it still absolutely blows me away. As Ozymandias put it: "look upon my works ye mighty and despair!" What does it for you?

                                        98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

                                        L Offline
                                        L Offline
                                        Leng Vang
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #33

                                        First time I saw a blinking cursor on a green CRT screen, press a key on the keyboard and the character appears on the screen. I said the myself, "Wow!" :omg:

                                        P 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • P PeejayAdams

                                          As developers we often look at software and start reverse engineering it in our heads. There's plenty of stuff that might deeply impress us but we can figure out roughly how it does what it does even if we wouldn't be confident in writing it ourselves. Sometimes, though, you see something and think "Blimey! I wouldn't have come up with that in a million years. That's not code, that's sorcery!" For me, the Great Amazer has always been Shazam - yes, it's been around for years and I've read a fair old bit about the central fingerprinting algorithm (much of which has passed over my head) but it still absolutely blows me away. As Ozymandias put it: "look upon my works ye mighty and despair!" What does it for you?

                                          98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

                                          Sander RosselS Offline
                                          Sander RosselS Offline
                                          Sander Rossel
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #34

                                          Pretty much anything. Wow, how can a computer compute? Wow, how can a (cell) phone, or computer for that matter, connect to any other device anywhere in the world in milliseconds? Wow, how can we build big ass skyscrapers with all kinds of fancy architecture? Wow, how could the early civilizations do pretty much the same without all our fancy technology? Wow, how can Google calculate the shortest or fastest route from anywhere to anywhere by car, public transport, bike or foot (and so accurately)? Wow, how can anyone write decent code in JavaScript? Actually, I haven't seen this for myself yet and I'm not ready to believe this exists. Wow, how can Google search through millions of websites for some random string in milliseconds. Wow, you already mentioned Shazam, who does the same but with music, WOW! I know it's all perfectly logical. Some physics, some chemistry, some math... But wow. And that's just some human achievements.

                                          Best, Sander Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

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