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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.

    G Offline
    G Offline
    Gary Wheeler
    wrote on last edited by
    #38

    Cryptography - I've never had the math to understand it. Flight control for aircraft - I was involved with one project and it's scary stuff. Lots of complex, high-rate data acquisition coupled with complicated math. In that software, if there was a bug that let the aircraft go unstable, the pilot died 2-3 seconds later.

    Software Zen: delete this;

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    • G Gary Wheeler

      Cryptography - I've never had the math to understand it. Flight control for aircraft - I was involved with one project and it's scary stuff. Lots of complex, high-rate data acquisition coupled with complicated math. In that software, if there was a bug that let the aircraft go unstable, the pilot died 2-3 seconds later.

      Software Zen: delete this;

      P Offline
      P Offline
      PeejayAdams
      wrote on last edited by
      #39

      I don't think I'd ever get a wink of sleep if I worked on stuff like that.

      98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

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      • P PeejayAdams

        I don't think I'd ever get a wink of sleep if I worked on stuff like that.

        98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

        G Offline
        G Offline
        Gary Wheeler
        wrote on last edited by
        #40

        We actually built a software emulator of the flight control system for the purpose of validating the system's design. Our emulator could be 'flown' in ways that a normal flight test would not allow. Still scary stuff (if we missed something :~ ), but a step removed from direct responsibility for the pilot's safety. As I recall we only found two or three minor design errors, none of which had flight safety concerns.

        Software Zen: delete this;

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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.

          K Offline
          K Offline
          Kirk 10389821
          wrote on last edited by
          #41

          My biggest AHA Moment was realizing that the WEB + Browser <==> MainFrame + Page Mode Terminal. Think about a Browser being a Terminal Emulator for a few seconds. Specifically Page Mode. You get your screen. You edit/work locally. and you XMIT/SEND/POST/SUBMIT all responses on the page. The job of the Terminal Emulator is to take "escape sequences mixed in with field data" and separate them out, and control how they display. == Direct Programming. Learning how Mathematical Change of Basis is the underpinning of AutoCads ability to draw from various perspectives! ==

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          • G Gary Wheeler

            Cryptography - I've never had the math to understand it. Flight control for aircraft - I was involved with one project and it's scary stuff. Lots of complex, high-rate data acquisition coupled with complicated math. In that software, if there was a bug that let the aircraft go unstable, the pilot died 2-3 seconds later.

            Software Zen: delete this;

            A Offline
            A Offline
            Andre Pereira
            wrote on last edited by
            #42

            Control Theory is the perfect blend of mathematics and engineering. I mean, eyeballing tune values has an equation :D

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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
              #43

              I started with "Pong"; and "bought into" every incremental change after that. It's been an effort to maintain the rush. We are now onto XR.

              "(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then". ― Blaise Pascal

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              • P PeejayAdams

                The first time I spent a day on a green CRT, I said "Wow! That's what I call eye-strain!" I used to hate those things with a passion, the amber ones were so much nicer to work with but everywhere had those horrible green ones.

                98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

                L Offline
                L Offline
                Leng Vang
                wrote on last edited by
                #44

                I hear ya, staring at greet CRT all day is stressful. Now a day, I can't even code on 2 27" LCD. I must have a 55" 4K and set the font size to 150% or 12Pts font. Still going home with blurry vision every day.

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                • P PeejayAdams

                  I don't think I'd ever get a wink of sleep if I worked on stuff like that.

                  98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.

                  L Offline
                  L Offline
                  Leng Vang
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #45

                  How about a software control a eye surgical laser. One fault move and the patient lost a sight. Which why it takes 2 years develop and 4 years testing.

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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.

                    P Offline
                    P Offline
                    PNutHed
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #46

                    Very well said. It's hard to convey that to someone who hasn't done so but what you wrote really resonated with me. Still go as often as I can. And I loved Doom, but not even close.

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                    • L Leng Vang

                      How about a software control a eye surgical laser. One fault move and the patient lost a sight. Which why it takes 2 years develop and 4 years testing.

                      D Offline
                      D Offline
                      dandy72
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #47

                      I've had laser eye surgery. I *am* a software developer. And I've thought about that exact same thing. When I had the laser beaming into my eyeball. Not a pleasant thought to have at that exact moment.

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                      • L Leng Vang

                        I hear ya, staring at greet CRT all day is stressful. Now a day, I can't even code on 2 27" LCD. I must have a 55" 4K and set the font size to 150% or 12Pts font. Still going home with blurry vision every day.

                        P Offline
                        P Offline
                        PeejayAdams
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #48

                        I've not got quite that bad but I do find myself struggling a bit with eyestrain from 27's these days. This job certainly isn't good for the eyes (or your health in general, for that matter).

                        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.

                          T Offline
                          T Offline
                          TheRaven
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #49

                          Cloud computing, as the old new thing, hits a note with me --sour. So much time and energy dumped into promoting Cloud Computing as the wave of the future/web 3.0 or whatever. Thin client, FTP and distributed architecture is old as hell --it just got icons now, that's all that changed. The only cloud I give a crap about is White Cloud or Charmin (whichever's on sale at the time). :java:

                          I was unaware of that...

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