Opening Song : None.
This is what the Benevolent Dictator for Life ( read Linus Torvalds ) had to say about Evolution vs Revolution.
"Only stupid people think they should throw away old proven concepts. What happens quite often in academia in particular is that you find a problem you want to fix, and you re-design the whole system around your fix. This is how we get crap like microkernels. They have 'an agenda', and that's the _worst_ thing you can have when designing software. You fixate on some perceived problem, and the end result is that yes, maybe you fixed _that_ problem, but in the meantime you also generated a whole new of issues - usually things that were solved by the original approach. The UNIX/Linux approach is a very pragmatic thing - leave the things that work well alone. There's no point in re-inventing the whole system just because of some small perceived flaws... And many things _can_ be done without throwing out old designs. Implementation improvements are quite possible without trying to make something totally new to the outside. That's how things like the dcache come about, for example - keeping the standard old boring UNIX filesystem approach, while internally caching it in new ways, improving performance tremendously. Not throwing out the baby with the bath-water doesn't mean that you cannot improve the system. I'm only arguing against stupid people who think they need a revolution to improve - most real improvements are evolutionary."
Now I know why I love this field so much. Just love the idea - to evolve, to grow, to change, to adapt. Dynamic, eh? You bet it is :)
Who made the statement "Have your head in the clouds and your feet firmly rooted to the earth" ? I can't remember.
But, if you can't imagine how to do that, think of climbing a mountain, and you'll know how. :)
Closing Song: None
Closing Mood: My tests need me. Something not going according to the plan. Need some Change!
6 comments:
Insightful post. :-)
Though I think, sometimes in one's personal life, one needs to let go entirely, probably even jump high letting go of the ground, when you know you are not going to get any taller. :-)
You should remember this scene of Ethan Hawke in Gattaca!
(Anton, since he was genetically superior than Jerome, his brother, had always beaten him at physical activities such as swimming, since childhood. But several years later...
)
They tread water several yards apart. The ocean is choppier
now. The view of the lights on the shore is obscured by the
peaks of the waves.
ANTON
(panic starting to show)
Vincent, where's the shore? We're too far out. We have to go back!
JEROME
(calling back)
Too late for that. We're closer to the other side.
Anton looks towards the empty horizon.
ANTON
What other side? How far do you want to go?!Do you want to drown us both?(becoming hysterical)
How are we going to get back?!
Jerome merely smiles back at his younger brother, a disturbingly
serene smile.
JEROME
(eerily calm)
You wanted to know how I did it. That's how I did it, Anton. I never saved anything for the swim back.
@shivdeep
Yup, I remember that very well.
However, as Linus pointed out, more often than not, problems can be solved with having to go to the extremes. And an evolutionary approach certainly does provide more stability.
But I agree, in certain cases, revolutions are needed, but not when things could have been done with what was available.
I hope people are familar with NASA investing millions of dollars in inventing a pen which could write in a gravity free environment, while the Russians used a pencil to accomplish the same. :)
stop patting your own back ;) u may just end up losing sight of the ground.
@kripal pais
Don't worry, If I jump too far, there are enough people to pull me down!
indian crabs dont need a lid huh?? and looks like your in the beta mode. did u check out the fact that u have to have a google account for it????
@kripal pais
Yeah, you need a google account for blogger beta.Probably this fits in well with your "Big Brother" conspiracy theory!
Post a Comment