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Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

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Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#211

Post by zsmi »

SilasX wrote: post #175
elengyel wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd very much like to revive my old code (which I still have) at some point and see how well it runs on modern computers. My guess is that a typical 64-bit ~3 GHz quad-core machine could accomplish the same task in a few minutes today.

Hate to be the choosing beggar, and I appreciate all the answers, but ... everyone is answering about how long that 70 digit job would take now, when what I meant was, how big a number could you factor “overnight” with similar cost hardware.

Not exactly the same, but close.

https://github.com/eniac/faas

The purpose of the FaaS (Factoring as a Service) project is to demonstrate that 512-bit integers can be factored in only a few hours, for less than $100 of compute time in a public cloud environment.

512b = 155 decimal digits.

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#212

Post by ComputerGuru »

onion2k wrote: post #166
throwaway77770 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The grain of the web is so that it's much easier to write something broken than something that works. That's true of all development, granted, but doubly so the web, so yep... the web is broken.

Most websites work quite well.

That was mostly true before client side rendering.

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#214

Post by arunc »

cc_cccc wrote: post #88

The twitter thread and this comment section is a good reminder I don't belong on HN. I feel like the most complex coding I have done is write a CRUD web app haha.

HN community is awesome. But the comment thread web UI is a big duh! I'm not comparing it with Twitter as I haven't used it much. I can't use HN without Materialistic so on Android. It's so much easier to collapse and expand comments on mobile than having to click on a small + sign.

FWIW, I'm from 1990 as well and I prefer to read plain websites with no JS/CSS. But the HN comment threading interface could use some love.

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#215

Post by ngcc_hk »

WalterBright wrote: post #67
a3n wrote: post #45

In 19 and 82 or 3, I worked at Lockheed Shipyard in Seattle, in a sort of tech writing capacity on a Navy ship building project, based on my recent experience in the Navy. The business closed with completion of the ships. We had to fill out lots of forms that documented what we called "analysis," and we'd often have to change them based on some factor changing. One change could cascade through the whole form. Paper f…

In the same time frame, I worked at Boeing doing design work on the 757. I didn't know how to do complex numbers using drafting tools, but I knew how to use a computer. The only computer in the building was an '11 in a special locked room with raised floor and A/C. It was under the control of Boeing Computer Services, a totally separate division from Boeing Commercial Airplane Company, which I worked for. Anyhow, I b…

I were tasked to migrate a pool of wang ladies to wang pc. It was horror (as the wang pc is not as good as their wang processor). The meeting turned into a nightmare for me. As some of these are also typist for all the top guys in the group the wang pc does not end up well. I survived. But still have dark feeling of a room full of wang ladies.

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#216

Post by neop1x »

linux2647 wrote: post #7

Thread on a single page: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1389106103179378689.html

Maybe HN should append [twitter tale] or something like that to the title as they do for [video] and [pdf]. Then I would first try to find a one-page transcript in a comment...

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#217

Post by neop1x »

fnord77 wrote: post #107

I wonder what kids are doing these days.

Playing Roblox and Minecraft? Well, maybe doing some remote system hacking or flashing LineageOS on ther smartphone. But the fact is that systems are much more complex and secure today. There is high barrier of entry and too much to learn.

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#218

Post by jtms »

wheybags wrote: post #173
jtms wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wifi from those days wasn’t nearly as good as a hard wire. Also, it might have just not been available. It wasn’t nearly as ubiquitous 20 years ago as it is now.

This was more like 10 years ago, but yeah, WiFi was still crap (and still is :v). In particular, the signal in that room wasn't great.

Oh - original counter strike (mod for half life) came out in 2000 - I’m old!

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#219

Post by twobitshifter »

knodi123 wrote: post #48
jmercouris wrote: post #11

I remember in high school renaming programs to "calc.exe" so we could run them. Back when these kinds of protections were so primitive :-)

Ah, the era of primitive DIY security. Those were the days. It's kinda of sad that today's kids have to deal with industry-grade encryption and professional best practices, instead of going toe-to-toe with an underpaid self-taught middle-aged "computer guy" like my generation did...

Our computer guy was pretty cool, he set up Starcraft LAN parties during recess. However he also used passwords like Spring1998, so everyone could get year-round admin rights if they knew his pattern.

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#220

Post by seg_lol »

WalterBright wrote: post #197
seg_lol wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how many of those women had to learn to code to fix the typos? The level of structural sexism back then was off the charts, at least it was overt. Now we just tell people there is no glass ceiling and it must be their problem.

The Wang didn't allow for any coding.

Neither does paper.

I am wondering about error rates, human -> paper, paper -> file, file -> execution.

Those feedback loops are enormous. It would be interesting to interview woman from the computer code typing pool.

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