Proper breakthroughs/inventions.

[John Larkin]

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 01:55:10 +0000 (UTC), kensmith@green.rahul.net
(Ken Smith) wrote:

In article <afpvo09m8bd10erqffov49dp5chce7e5o0@4ax.com>,
John Larkin <jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:
On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 22:20:52 +0100, Stefan Heinzmann
stefan_heinzmann@yahoo.com> wrote:


Things I also find outstanding is the planar process, the DRAM, and on a
higher scale the invention of virtual memory.


Virtual memory is *the* enabling technology of slow, buggy, bloated
code.

But virtual machines makes debugging of OSs easier so there is a bit of a
pay back from the same area.

Memory <> Machines.

John

 

[Dirk Bruere at Neopax]

ChrisGibboGibson wrote:

I was thinking about electronic inventions. Ones that *really* made a
difference or represented a *huge* leap in either technology or thinking.

Obviously the transistor and IC, but when you look into those they weren't
really flash inventions, more a development. History shows similar properties
in the case of the transistor had been demonstrated for years beforehand. The
IC was really just bunging more than one of them together. Not really a
breakthrough.

The two that spring to my mind initially are the HP wein oscillator using the
bulb and the Wadley triple loop, drift cancelling superhet, which I still think
is amazing.

What would others propose for sheer inventiveness?

WIMP i/f from Xerox

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org

 

[Ken Smith]

In article <pan.2004.11.10.06.44.29.512172@neodruid.org>,
Rich The Philosophizer <null@example.net> wrote:
[...]

So the challenge, then, apparently, is to find a way to bring all this
virtual crap into real reality, right?

In optics virtual a focus really matters. In electronics, a virtual
ground matters. In OOP virtual methods matter. I guess in many ways the
virtual is real.

The field of real numbers contains many that will never be realized so in
some ways they are virtual.

--
--
kensmith@rahul.net forging knowledge

 

[Ken Smith]

In article <ntg4p0lto6c7ejha8q1lklmin9e96atriq@4ax.com>,
John Larkin <jjlarkin@highlandSNIPtechTHISnologyPLEASE.com> wrote:

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 01:55:10 +0000 (UTC), kensmith@green.rahul.net
(Ken Smith) wrote:

In article <afpvo09m8bd10erqffov49dp5chce7e5o0@4ax.com>,
John Larkin <jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote:
On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 22:20:52 +0100, Stefan Heinzmann
stefan_heinzmann@yahoo.com> wrote:


Things I also find outstanding is the planar process, the DRAM, and on a
higher scale the invention of virtual memory.


Virtual memory is *the* enabling technology of slow, buggy, bloated
code.

But virtual machines makes debugging of OSs easier so there is a bit of a
pay back from the same area.


Memory <> Machines.

Yes but:

Memory is required for much of a machine.

--
--
kensmith@rahul.net forging knowledge