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Steve Jobs' cabinet

perfectdays23.substack.com

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Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#61

Post by Nevermark »

As I fiddle with the aesthetics of my source code, how it’s organized right down to highly OCD symmetries of comments across similar parts of my code base, I spy things, and discover connections, that improve both the code and the abstract geometry of its source topology.

Should I spend that time futzing around so much? Objectively it sounds like a terrible use of (a lot) of time.

But the results speak for themselves. I can’t think of a better way to both study my own code (with all the advantage of intrinsic motivation), see it from so many directions, and yet have so much free unconstrained brain capacity at the same time, lost in deep long-hot-shower let-the-universe speak to me receptor mode.

Major design wins. Surprising bugs pressed out, before they even got to show themselves to the world. Poor things.

And I really like how my code looks when I have to look at it again!!!

Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#62

Post by giantrobot »

bigyabai wrote: post #30
WalterBright wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a job wire-wrapping circuit boards in college. I expended effort to lay out the wires so they formed a neat pattern. Why spend time doing that? It made it easy to check for errors in wiring, as then the pattern would be disrupted. The end result was I almost never made a wirewrap mistake, and the work was appreciated. I also soldered components on, and also took care to orient the resisters all the same way, an…

Which would all be very useful if Apple actually did board-level repairs and not logic board swaps. But they don't, so it is all just for show.

Apple definitely refurbs boards. They just don't do it in the back of an Apple Store. It's far more economical for them to do full logic board swaps (or other components) than spend the time and effort doing component level repairs in the back of a retail store.

Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#63

Post by scyzoryk_xyz »

rfrey wrote: post #39

This quote could only come from somebody that knows nothing about trades. Examine any "high style" cabinet from the federal period, or any other period really. The backs of highboys are the worst, rough-sawn, uneven, knot-riddled pieces the cabinetmaker had. A craftsman knows where to apply his effort.

It's a quote from the sales trade.

And they're not selling to cabinet makers.

Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#64

Post by noufalibrahim »

We recently had two gaming machines built by different vendors. The second hada higher spec than the first.

The engineer from my company who interacted with the vendors and I were chatting about the machines and we kept coming back to the point about nicely the first guy had routed the cables and put them in the cabinet. It would be covered by a metal sheet and hence invisible but the work he put into it was obvious when we opened it up to install a RAM stick.

I don't know how to quantify the practical benefits of this but it does indicate a different mindset. I think that will spill over to other work which has more tangible benefits and that's a good thing.

Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#65

Post by bryanrasmussen »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #50
WalterBright wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A real estate agent walked through my house I was putting for sale. He examined the switch plates carefully. I asked why. He replied that a good craftsman lined up the slots in the top screw and bottom screw, and this was a "tell" that he'd done a good job.

..... aaaaaand another measure just became a target...

so when selling the house you figure people will do this work before calling a realtor?

Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#66

Post by nicman23 »

woodpanel wrote: post #8

I can do nothing but agree - but don’t tell the author about Louis Rossmann, who has been opening, repairing, and bemoaning the horrible electronics design of Apple products. Like someone here noted, the scapegoat of our times, Car manufacturers figuring out how to „appear nice on the back“, Apple managed to hide its poor engineering behind the veneer of branding and shiny materials.

i am confused as to if you agree to apple shit engineering or not

Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#68

Post by bravetraveler »

wslh wrote: post #37
mauvehaus wrote: post #32

As a working furnituremaker, it depends on the client's budget. I try to get a sense of budget early in the design process so that I can both provide the best bang for the buck for the client and also a uniform level of quality throughout the piece. If push comes to shove, though, I'm not going to turn a job down because there isn't budget for a frame and panel back. I'm not going to turn someone's work away because…

The same applies to software: it's common to criticize someone's work without knowing the context or the story behind the system. The typical triangle dilemma is budget, time, and quality.

If it's supported, by who

Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#69

Post by acomjean »

wslh wrote: post #37
mauvehaus wrote: post #32

As a working furnituremaker, it depends on the client's budget. I try to get a sense of budget early in the design process so that I can both provide the best bang for the buck for the client and also a uniform level of quality throughout the piece. If push comes to shove, though, I'm not going to turn a job down because there isn't budget for a frame and panel back. I'm not going to turn someone's work away because…

The same applies to software: it's common to criticize someone's work without knowing the context or the story behind the system. The typical triangle dilemma is budget, time, and quality.

I’m add to existing legacy Code. I can’t be judgy most of the time. Sometime I can suss out the first build then the additional features tacked on at later dates which is where things get messy.

I’m at the fourth update and I did a little clean up. I didn’t tear it and start from zero, but I cleaned it up so future me will be happier when the next change comes (and we now know they keep wanting updates to this)

The original way worked and was clean and I just assume that the next updates were done under some time constraints. A lot of code here just keeps working for years with no updates so it made sense to do it faster with less flexibility. Not everything needs to be great when more good enough functionality is more useful.

Re: Steve Jobs' cabinet

#70

Post by mrheosuper »

q3k wrote: post #22

Apple device innards are made to appeal to people who have no idea about hardware engineering / repair. For the rest of us the design just screams wankery. No one who has practical experience wants to deal with black solder mask, adhesives, non-uniform screw sizes / driver kinds, lack of repair docs, proprietary ICs and underdesigned charge circuits. A macbook's innards isn't a beautiful piece of wood. It's a gaudy e…

with the component density of their PCB right now, it would be impossible to put silkscreen for every component. Also nowaday we use boardview software to find component, so silkscreen is not that needed anymore.
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