Tiny is getting bigger.
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From: Susan Bugher on 21 Mar 2010 20:04 Back in the day. . . we used to talk about "boomer size" apps (less than 50 KB). Now programs that are close to one MB in size are described by their authors as "tiny". That's NOT "tiny" in *my* book. . . grumble, grumble. . . ;) Susan -- Posted to alt.comp.freeware Search alt.comp.freeware (or read it online): http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=+group:alt.comp.freeware Pricelessware & ACF: http://www.pricelesswarehome.org Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org (not maintained)
From: Brian (Groups) on 21 Mar 2010 20:57 On Mar 22, 11:04 am, Susan Bugher <sebug...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Back in the day. . . we used to talk about "boomer size" apps (less > than 50 KB). > > Now programs that are close to one MB in size are described by their > authors as "tiny". > > That's NOT "tiny" in *my* book. . . grumble, grumble. . . ;) > > Susan > -- > Posted to alt.comp.freeware > Search alt.comp.freeware (or read it online):http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=+group:alt.comp.freeware > Pricelessware & ACF:http://www.pricelesswarehome.org > Pricelessware:http://www.pricelessware.org(not maintained) I was thinking about that very thing the other day Susan, and how the perceptions and expectations of people have changed, as I saw GenX and GenY appear. Now back in my day <yawn> people would kick up (on ACF as well) if somebody mentioned a program that "won't fit on a single floppy" - 1.44MB. There was also the issue of a program requiring the notorious VB runtimes (very BIG) as being undesirable. Most people nowadays don't even realize their existence, since they form a tiny part of the Windows install. But now it's the dotnet framework - evil, bloated, monopoly etc. Then came the registry - same sh*t - evil, spying, phone home, privacy etc. Now the rave is "portable" apps, which IMHO is pretty much a reversion to the Windows 3.x days, where relevant info was kept in .INI files in the same folder as the .EXE! There was even an issue if a proggie had dependencies on anything other than its own EXE - even an owned DLL in its own folder. I recall comparing "stories" of having to write assembly language programs (that being the norm back then) to run in 64 bytes (not mega- not kilo- just bytes) of memory for driving servos to aim and fire surface-to-air missiles from warships. The challenge was to jam it all down to the available memory, optimizing each & every machine instruction. Now it's bang a few prebuilt controls onto a GUI form, connect a few "wires" and there's your bloated simplistic app in just 5 minutes and 5MB (not including required runtimes). Amazing - it's like watching evolution unfold within your own lifetime. Brian
From: Gary R. Schmidt on 22 Mar 2010 07:02 Susan Bugher wrote: > Back in the day. . . we used to talk about "boomer size" apps (less > than 50 KB). > > Now programs that are close to one MB in size are described by their > authors as "tiny". > > That's NOT "tiny" in *my* book. . . grumble, grumble. . . ;) > > Susan Now, watch all the (other) newbies come out talking about "megabytes" and "my first X had only Y of Z." When I was starting out, 1 kilo-*WORD* of memory was a a lot. The smallest (binary) in my bin on my Solaris system is 2389 bytes in size - of course it loads libc (1416060 bytes) and libm (337804 bytes) at runtime. The smallest *executable* is only 25 bytes, but that juist exports a variable, the smallest one that really does anything is 81 bytes, lsrpm: paranoia ~ $ cat ~/bin/lsrpm #! /bin/sh for i in $* do echo "Extracting $i..." rpm2cpio $i | cpio -itv done paranoia ~ $ Hmm, I think that one may be out of date! On the winderrs box, the smallest exe in bin is VCdControlTool.exe (which is an MS product!!) at 23552 bytes (and, no doubt, some large number of dll's). Cheers, Gary B-)
From: Thore on 22 Mar 2010 07:29 On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:02:24 +1100, "Gary R. Schmidt" <grschmidt(a)acm.org> wrote: >Susan Bugher wrote: >> Back in the day. . . we used to talk about "boomer size" apps (less >> than 50 KB). >> >> Now programs that are close to one MB in size are described by their >> authors as "tiny". >> >> That's NOT "tiny" in *my* book. . . grumble, grumble. . . ;) >> >> Susan > >Now, watch all the (other) newbies come out talking about "megabytes" >and "my first X had only Y of Z." > >When I was starting out, 1 kilo-*WORD* of memory was a a lot. > >The smallest (binary) in my bin on my Solaris system is 2389 bytes in My smallest executable is RESET.COM. It's 18 Bytes... and do what it says.. -- Venlig hilsen / Best regards Thore Sorensen - DK-2620 Albertslund (Erstat evt .INVALID med .DK for direkte mail) Se min hobbyside: www.RacePhoto.dk
From: dadiOH on 22 Mar 2010 09:06
Susan Bugher wrote: > Back in the day. . . we used to talk about "boomer size" apps (less > than 50 KB). > > Now programs that are close to one MB in size are described by their > authors as "tiny". > > That's NOT "tiny" in *my* book. . . grumble, grumble. . . ;) I figure a lot of a program's bytes are expended in making the program useable for the common man/woman. You know, giving them the illusion that they are actually computer literate when they browse to Farcebook or forward the latest bunch of junk that was just forwarded to them. -- dadiOH ____________________________ dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico |