On Programming: The Best Epigram on the Slowness of Software I Have Yet Heard

Some software programs are slow, dreadfully so.

Booting up Vista is a case in point. I recall that booting up a Xerox “star” workstation could take over twenty minutes. Early versions of IBM’s risc system running AIX were also as slow as molasses. [1]

Steve Johnson is the author of the following comment about an IBM operating system:

“Using TSO is like kicking a dead whale down the beach.”

My own candidate is due to Jay Earley. During one day in the early 70’s he spoke on his work as part of a small team that had created a timesharing system that was developed at Berkeley. He said the system response time had been very slow, and that much work had gone into improving it. The response time is the interval between entering a command and getting some kind of response from the system.

“Jay Earley: We halved the response time every week for six months, and the system was STILL too slow to be usable.”

Jay is best known as the creator of the “nodal spans” parsing algorithm.

During my years with Jack Schwartz he gave high praise to only a few algorithms. Whenever we discussed parsing, he would always mention nodal spans, though I can’t recall his exact words.

Jay left computing a few years later to pursue a career in another field.

Note:

1. I once read every issue of Reader’s Digest published from 1917 to about 1958. My favorite article was about the bursting of a giant tank filled with molasses that flooded several blocks of downtown Boston.

On Ubuntu: Some Examples of the Use of The Web to Answer Questions About Ubuntu and Linux

Here is a list of some of the search phrases that have brought views of this blog today. Each list entry gives the search string and the number of views:

1. building a computer to run ubuntu 6
2. build your own linux computer 4
3. best browser for ubuntu 3
4. remove all java from ubuntu 2
5. best browsers for ubuntu 2
6. best ubuntu browser 2
7. leigh anne tuohy 2
8. geforce 6100sm manual 2
9. ubuntu kodak camera
10. uniicomp keyboard 1
11. juploadr ubuntu 1
12. ubuntu compatible motherboards
13. intel 845gl ubuntu driver 1
14. intel 845g ubuntu
15. how do i build my own ubuntu computer 1
16. juploadr ubuntu 1

My favorite is, of course, #4.

Note that most of the searches were to learn about Ubuntu, or as part of a search to answer a question about Ubuntu. For example, the Intel 845 chip and a GEFORCE motherboard are among the components I have used in the two desktop computers I have built to run Ubuntu Linux. Each cost no more than $250.

Needless to say, there was no charge for the software that I installed on them — not one penny. WIndows XP runs about $100 a copy these days, which would have increased the cost of either machine by forty per cent.

The above list is just for today. Here are the results for all searches to date that resulted in more than one hundred views:

1. leigh anne tuohy 4,859
2. leigh ann tuohy 1,040
3. twiters 773
4. ubuntu computer 692
5. lotus symphony ubuntu 459
6. kyu chay 453
7. brief history of operating system 451
8. juploadr ubuntu 345
9. kenken solver 326
10. norman salsitz 323
11. fadwa hamdan 311
12. ubuntu java version 273
13. symphony ubuntu 262
14. build your own linux computer 229
15. “leigh anne tuohy” 228
16. ubuntu compatible motherboards 218
17. me tube 216
18. ubuntu mount flash drive 204
19. ubuntu t60 183
20. ooxml specification 169
21. ubuntu lotus symphony 164
22. ubuntu intel 845 161
23. 100 dollar computer 155
24. xo ubuntu 154
25. leigh anne tuohy picture 153
26. build ubuntu computer 147
27. ubuntu motherboards 146
28. annus terribilis 146
29. intel 845 ubuntu 144
30. build linux computer 141
31. intel 845g ubuntu 138
32. laptop xo 132
33. mount flash drive ubuntu 126
34. david shields 123
35. ubuntu motherboard 123
36. ubuntu compatible motherboard 121
37. a brief history of operating system 119
38. ubuntu on xo 119
39. ubuntu motherboard compatibility 118
40. building a linux computer 118
41. ubuntu access usb drive 117
42. ubuntu mount usb flash 116
43. why do we need to communicate 107
44. build a linux computer 105
45. best browser for ubuntu 104
46. ooxml spec 103
47. ubuntu kvm switch 102
48. leigh anne touhy 101
49. history of operating systems 101

These lists are yet another demonstration that the most important words in a blog post are the ones in the title. Those words determine if people will be drawn to the post, and hopefully then read it.

The one that means the most to me is, of course, #6, “kyu hyuk chay,” though this is moderated by my knowledge that, while I have written several posts about him, only a handful of posts by others make mention of his name.

Note again the predominance of “ubuntu,” This is by design, for I attach high priority to promoting Ubuntu. Every title that contains “ubuntu” also contains “linux,” and vice versa.

#3 is evidence that, while twitter may claim ownership of “twitter,” I’ve got “twiter” in my pocket.

#1 and #2 are about Leigh Ann Tuohy, one of my favorite people in the world. Ms. Tuohy made the most perceptive remark about money I have heard in the last decade:

God gives people money to see how you’re going to handle it.

Her observation is the source of this blog’s motto:

WordPress gave me a blog to see how I was going to handle it

Ms. Tuohy is the adoptive mother of Michael Oher, my favorite football player. He is the reason I am now a die-hard fan of the Baltimore Ravens.