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James Gregory 2013-12-30 12:25:34 +11:00
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</P>
<P>Actually, it wasn&#146;t. The object was to see who could run the fastest according to the limitations placed upon the contest. This is a crucial distinction, although usually taken for granted. Would it have been legitimate if I had cut across the middle of the field? If I had ridden a bike? If I had broken the world record for the 100 meters by dropping 100 meters from a plane? Competition has meaning only within a carefully circumscribed arena.</P>
<P>Why am I telling you this? First, because it is a useful lesson for programming.</P>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%"><TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="5%"><IMG SRC="images/18-01i.jpg"><TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="95%"><SMALL><I>All programming is performed within limitations, some of which can be bent or changed, but many of which cannot. You cannot change the maximum memory bandwidth of a VGA, or the maximum instruction execution rate of a 486. That is why the stunning 3D demos you see at SIGGRAPH have only passing relevance to everyday life on the desktop. A rule that Intel&#146;s chip designers cannot break is 8086 compatibility, much as I&#146;m sure they&#146;d like to, but of course the flip side is that although RISC chips are technically superior, they command but a small fraction of the market; raw performance is not the arena of competition. Similarly, you will often be unable to change the specifications for the software you implement.</I></SMALL>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%"><TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="5%"><IMG SRC="images/i.jpg"><TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="95%"><SMALL><I>All programming is performed within limitations, some of which can be bent or changed, but many of which cannot. You cannot change the maximum memory bandwidth of a VGA, or the maximum instruction execution rate of a 486. That is why the stunning 3D demos you see at SIGGRAPH have only passing relevance to everyday life on the desktop. A rule that Intel&#146;s chip designers cannot break is 8086 compatibility, much as I&#146;m sure they&#146;d like to, but of course the flip side is that although RISC chips are technically superior, they command but a small fraction of the market; raw performance is not the arena of competition. Similarly, you will often be unable to change the specifications for the software you implement.</I></SMALL>
</TABLE>
<H3><A NAME="Heading3"></A><FONT COLOR="#000077">Breaking the Rules</FONT></H3>
<P>The other reason for the anecdote has to do with the way my second Optimization Challenge worked itself out. If you&#146;ll recall from the last chapter, the challenge I made to the readers of <I>PC TECHNIQUES</I> was to devise the fastest possible version of the Game of Life cellular automata simulation game. I gave an example, laid out the rules, and stood aside. Good thing, too. <I>Apres moi, le deluge....</I></P>