Occasionally I read articles about legal issues related to the computer industry. Tonight I read an article about the lawsuit against Seagate for false advertising. It was not the article which drew my attention, rather it was the comment section which was truly an interesting read in ignorance. Several want to be experts tried to explain that it was really the memory manufacturers who were wrong. Memory should really be sold in multiples of 1000 not 1024 as it is being sold today. After all, computers use real numbers today it is only the old, primitive computers which need binary.
Well, guess what, every computer in use today only really understand binary.
The computer which most people think was the first electronic computer, ENIAC, just happened really to be a decimal machine. ENIAC did not, understand binary. Unfortunately, this led to several problems. For instance it literally took weeks to change a program, you had to rewire the machine, and it caused extreme limitations on the number of things which the machine could remember. (Usable memory, or should I say lack of in the case of these early machines).
In the old days, computers were word orientated. What this means is that the instruction and the data had to fit in a single computer word of memory. Back then computers came in various size words, 30 bit 60 bit, 28 bit 15 bit and a few in 68 bit. Please notice that none of these numbers are multiples of 8 bits, which is the byte length of modern computers.
In the old days, the primary number systems used were binary and octal. Why? Look at a very simple binary number for a 15-bit machine 101110111001000 or in octal 56710. A programmer can look at the binary and very quickly, without needing math, convert the binary to octal or vise-versa. Today we use binary and hexadecimal. Again, why? Well, we changed to byte orientated computers and using hex we can do the same trick with conversion between binary and hex. People can process hex or octal numbers much easier than binary. After all 56710 is much easier to remember than 101110111001000.
This means that memory will be either 8 16 32 64 or 128 bit. (Please note that this does not allow for ECC. Computer hardware designers must allow for ECC, computer programmers do not.)
Why did the computer world change to bytes? Quite simply because there were and to a small degree still are two ways to store written text such as this article in computer memory. These methods are ASCII, which requires 7 bits and EBCDIC, which requires 8 bits. Thus to store this sentence we need 56 bytes of memory. (This does not allow for control codes such as end of line or end of string.)
The thing is computers still work internally in binary. When the text of this document is saved in memory, it will use bytes of memory. So just how did we come up with 1K being 1024? Watch below and I think you will see:
1111111111 = 1023 decimal
10000000000 = 1024 decimal
So how do you get to this?
Start with the least significant digit.
0 x 1 = 0
0 x 2 = 0
0 x 4 = 0
0 x 8 = 0
0 x 16 = 0
0 x 32 = 0
0 x 64 = 0
0 x 128 = 0 (this is the eight bit)
0 X 256 = 0
0 X 512 = 0
1 X 1024 = 1024 (add all of the sums using decimal)
For those of you who are interested I leave the conversion of the first binary number.
The point is, the binary number system is hard wired in the very fiber of computers. You will need storage calculated using the same size, used for memory, to be able to save that word processor document you are writing. If you are using quick books, all of those DECIMAL numbers you enter are converted to binary before they reach the memory. Why? Computers do not really understand decimal. But then they really don't need to?
For those of you who still think that Seagate was correct, and the memory manufacturers are wrong; first you need totally to redesign the digital world we live in to get rid of binary. Or learn how to put a 20 oz coke in a 16 oz can without spilling or disposing, or drinking, any of the coke in the bottle.
Having worked on computers for almost forty years, I personally will take binary over the vastly added complexity of trying to do what we do with binary, in decimal. Yes, we could probably build machines which use decimal numbers. Unfortunately, the machines would be hundreds of times more complex than what we are currently using. Remember the computer you are using to read this, will have over 10,000,000,000 transistors and every one of these little critters only understands 0 and 1.
For those of you who think all of the people who developed computers using binary were wrong. All I can say if you wish to duplicate them using decimal is.
Good Luck!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Once uppon a birthday bright
In a very real sense, he is the company mascot as everyone who works here treats him as if they too belong to him. As those of you who have pets know, before long they do not belong to you, you belong to them. So here is to the other pets which grace our lives.
One thing I should probably say, Duke seems to like our Christmas party just as much as everyone else in the company. He does, however, object to the hat which goes with his Christmas outfit. Perhaps the only thing funnier than watching him get rid of that hat is the one time I tried to put boots on him.
I thought it's cold and wet outside, so I put boots on him to keep his feet warm. WRONG! I got the dirtiest look you can imagine. Duke says more with the way he looks at you than most people can say with words. He just stood there. He looked at me, then he lifted his left front foot and shook it, placed it back on the ground and lifted his right hind foot and shook it. He then gave me another dirty look and sat it back on the floor then he lifted his right front foot and shook it. This repeated one foot after the other until all four feet were free of the dratted boots he disliked so much. To this day I sincerely wish I had a movie of the scene.
One thing I'm sure that everyone who is graced with the presence of a dog or cat can tell you, they definitely have a personality all their own. They are just as individual as you are, and perhaps for many of the same reasons.
I only hope that we can keep their lives as rich as they keep ours. After all, there is a lot of truth in the old saying that a dog is man's best friend.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
History Lesson Needed?
I've heard a lot of people talking lately about getting rid of the current crop of politicians and going back to a bunch of Thomas Jefferson types who were dedicated to smaller government. That sounds good unless you read up on the history of Thomas Jefferson.
If you look at the Kentucky and Virginia Resolution and his opposition to the Alien and Sedition Act supported and rammed through Congress by President John Adams, one would think that he was indeed opposed to big government.
Well, guess what? He was totally opposed to, big government, until Thomas Jefferson was elected as the third President of the United States of America. That was when things changed. If you are talking about the percentage of increase in government size. During the eight years that Thomas Jefferson was President he presided over the biggest INCREASE in the size of the federal government in the history of the United States of America.
There is an old saying, "Power corrupts!" The corollary to this law is that "Absolute power corrupts absolutely!" This begs the question, will our new freshmen representatives be able to resist the "corruption of power" which comes as part and parcel of the office of Representative of the United States of America. Remember, you just elected them to one of the most exclusive and prestigious private clubs in the world. At any given time, there are only one hundred Senates and four hundred thirty-five members of the House of Representatives out of a worldwide population of just under seven billion people.
Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember the good intentions of many new politicians and watch them go smiling off to the wars of Washington DC. Of all of them that I personally know very much about, one, and only one has thus far resisted the corruption that is Washington.
I hope this time will be different! Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, I will not hold my breath until I see if it really works. After all, no one has yet answered the sixty-four million dollar question. Why would anyone spend twenty million dollars to win a job which pays one hundred and seventy-four thousand a year? Do the math:
20000000 - (174000 * 2) = 1652000 in the hole.
As long as this type of math is being used in Washington I fear that the only thing, which will correct the problem, is one giant enema hose placed squarely in the center of the capital building. The biggest problem is that once THAT clog is loosened there is likely to be one very, very, very big mess.
Unfortunately, it is probably our children who will be forced to deal with the stink.
If you look at the Kentucky and Virginia Resolution and his opposition to the Alien and Sedition Act supported and rammed through Congress by President John Adams, one would think that he was indeed opposed to big government.
Well, guess what? He was totally opposed to, big government, until Thomas Jefferson was elected as the third President of the United States of America. That was when things changed. If you are talking about the percentage of increase in government size. During the eight years that Thomas Jefferson was President he presided over the biggest INCREASE in the size of the federal government in the history of the United States of America.
There is an old saying, "Power corrupts!" The corollary to this law is that "Absolute power corrupts absolutely!" This begs the question, will our new freshmen representatives be able to resist the "corruption of power" which comes as part and parcel of the office of Representative of the United States of America. Remember, you just elected them to one of the most exclusive and prestigious private clubs in the world. At any given time, there are only one hundred Senates and four hundred thirty-five members of the House of Representatives out of a worldwide population of just under seven billion people.
Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember the good intentions of many new politicians and watch them go smiling off to the wars of Washington DC. Of all of them that I personally know very much about, one, and only one has thus far resisted the corruption that is Washington.
I hope this time will be different! Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, I will not hold my breath until I see if it really works. After all, no one has yet answered the sixty-four million dollar question. Why would anyone spend twenty million dollars to win a job which pays one hundred and seventy-four thousand a year? Do the math:
20000000 - (174000 * 2) = 1652000 in the hole.
As long as this type of math is being used in Washington I fear that the only thing, which will correct the problem, is one giant enema hose placed squarely in the center of the capital building. The biggest problem is that once THAT clog is loosened there is likely to be one very, very, very big mess.
Unfortunately, it is probably our children who will be forced to deal with the stink.
Monday, November 1, 2010
How Duke got me
I had talked at times about various dogs, which had been in my life. I have been around dogs all my life and knew full well how they can enrich your life. Duke was going to teach me just how much we can affect their life.
As I said, he was one scared little boy. He was about one-year-old, and someone had been very abusive to him. If you picked up anything, he would cringe and roll over on his back in a posture of abject submission. As I said, that day, was over ten years ago. To this very day if anyone around him, even people he knows very well, pick up a fly swatter he will cringe and start shivering.
Some people say that dogs don't have long-term memory. My comment to this is, look at Duke. He very definitely remembers fly swatters even though he has not been touched with one for over ten years. I have also noticed that he remembers people that he has not seen in years. So don't try to tell me that dogs don't remember.
I work in a job where I have extensive contact with the general public. Over the years, I have learned another thing about Duke, he is a very good judge of character. Duke is perhaps the friendliest dog I have ever encountered. He simply likes everyone, well almost everyone. If Duke doesn't like someone, you had better watch them. They are almost always bad news.
While it is possible to get Duke to bark at you if you startle him, almost always when he barks at someone there up to something that they should not be doing.
Of course, there is always an exception. Dukes exception is bicycles. If you are riding a bicycle anywhere close to him, he is going to bark at you. For some reason, he can't stand bicycle riders. A bicycle sitting around not being ridden is simply ignored by him. But if you climb on the thing and start to ride, he's going to let you know what he thinks about the thing. This does NOT apply to motorcycles. It must be that long term memory thing that everyone, other than Duke and every other dog in the world, knows that dogs don't have.
Another interesting thing about Duke is, as everyone knows, especially if they ever listen to any of the professional dog trainers on TV, dogs don't understand English. Interestingly enough just say the word donut around Duke, he'll teach you that he does understand that word. WARNING Duke even understands it if you spell it D O N U T. This is one of many words that he does not understand, in the English language.
Never forget, dogs prove every day that they are smarter than people. Don't believe me? Just how long did it take you to teach your dog to sit and roll over? Then think about how long it took them, to teach you to scratch them behind the ear.
Even dogs like a good neck rub.
POSTSCRIPT: Unfortunately, I lost Duke in 2014. I miss the boy and probably will until the day I die.
Beginnings
As any decent story does, this one begins with once upon a time. It's a once upon a time so long ago that it almost hurts to remember that far back.
Several years before the time I'm talking about, as a boy, I had learned to fly line control airplanes. I built the things and flew them and even learned to design my own. I designed airplanes totally different to those available as a kit.
Once I even built a flying wing. Two of us tried to make a flying wing, mine flew but the other fellows did not.
His design was far lighter and looked more polished than mine. He used the traditional construction techniques we had both learned, covering his airplane in silk-span. I, on the other hand, had placed lead weights at the trailing edge of the wing and covered the whole thing with thin balsa. Adding lead weights was the only way I could move the balance point where I was sure it needed to be. My friend, on the other hand, rigidly adhered to the axiom light but strong. From that airplane, I learned that there are many variables other than light and strong which go into a good design.
As you can see, I had long been interested in flying. Several years later I finally took the step.
For years, I had threatened to go to learn to fly. The problem was that flying was expensive. I was just out of the Navy and was not interested in going back into the military to learn to fly. Instead, one sunny day I went to the airport.
I still remember walking up to the small two place airplane and climbing in the left-hand seat. My new instructor climbed in the right seat and started to tell me about the bird. I remember walking around the bird and as he used a card, covered in plastic, to tell me what to look for. I had heard about checklists, but I had believed that they were only used on large airplanes. That day I learned they were used on all airplanes because all pilots have flawed human memories.
In a car, you get in, turn the key, and the engine simply starts. In an airplane, it's not quite that simple. Starting the engine though is still easy compared to what was to come next.
Up to this time, I had been in airplanes less than a dozen times. My first memory of an airplane is when I was about three or four, and I was taken for a flight in a DC-3. The Gooney was a wondrous thing for a small boy. Next I got a ride in an Aero Commander. Then of course I flew as a passenger several times while I was in the Navy. But I had never been, in the business end, of one of the things until this day.
I still remember the surprise that I felt when I learned that, on the ground, we turned the bird with our feet. The control wheel had to be held in certain positions related to where the wind was coming from. Often this was in the direction away from where you wanted to turn. Taxi, fortunately, was quite easy to master, and, in the few minutes, it took to get, to the runway, my new instructor was sure that I could actually make the takeoff. (He was actually guiding the yoke telling me when to pull.)
I still remember that time. For the first time in my life, I looked out over the nose of an airplane at a real runway, and the sky was waiting for me to lift into it.
At that moment, I knew where my future lay. Those of you who have experienced that moment remember that the feeling is only topped by one which happens one or two weeks later. That moment when you release brakes on your small airplane and join the ranks of the birdmen, or bird women. The day when you lift alone into the sky for the first time.
Few moments in life match these two moments, the first when you first lift into the sky at the controls of an airplane and the second when you do the same thing, alone.
Several years before the time I'm talking about, as a boy, I had learned to fly line control airplanes. I built the things and flew them and even learned to design my own. I designed airplanes totally different to those available as a kit.
Once I even built a flying wing. Two of us tried to make a flying wing, mine flew but the other fellows did not.
His design was far lighter and looked more polished than mine. He used the traditional construction techniques we had both learned, covering his airplane in silk-span. I, on the other hand, had placed lead weights at the trailing edge of the wing and covered the whole thing with thin balsa. Adding lead weights was the only way I could move the balance point where I was sure it needed to be. My friend, on the other hand, rigidly adhered to the axiom light but strong. From that airplane, I learned that there are many variables other than light and strong which go into a good design.
As you can see, I had long been interested in flying. Several years later I finally took the step.
For years, I had threatened to go to learn to fly. The problem was that flying was expensive. I was just out of the Navy and was not interested in going back into the military to learn to fly. Instead, one sunny day I went to the airport.
I still remember walking up to the small two place airplane and climbing in the left-hand seat. My new instructor climbed in the right seat and started to tell me about the bird. I remember walking around the bird and as he used a card, covered in plastic, to tell me what to look for. I had heard about checklists, but I had believed that they were only used on large airplanes. That day I learned they were used on all airplanes because all pilots have flawed human memories.
In a car, you get in, turn the key, and the engine simply starts. In an airplane, it's not quite that simple. Starting the engine though is still easy compared to what was to come next.
Up to this time, I had been in airplanes less than a dozen times. My first memory of an airplane is when I was about three or four, and I was taken for a flight in a DC-3. The Gooney was a wondrous thing for a small boy. Next I got a ride in an Aero Commander. Then of course I flew as a passenger several times while I was in the Navy. But I had never been, in the business end, of one of the things until this day.
I still remember the surprise that I felt when I learned that, on the ground, we turned the bird with our feet. The control wheel had to be held in certain positions related to where the wind was coming from. Often this was in the direction away from where you wanted to turn. Taxi, fortunately, was quite easy to master, and, in the few minutes, it took to get, to the runway, my new instructor was sure that I could actually make the takeoff. (He was actually guiding the yoke telling me when to pull.)
I still remember that time. For the first time in my life, I looked out over the nose of an airplane at a real runway, and the sky was waiting for me to lift into it.
At that moment, I knew where my future lay. Those of you who have experienced that moment remember that the feeling is only topped by one which happens one or two weeks later. That moment when you release brakes on your small airplane and join the ranks of the birdmen, or bird women. The day when you lift alone into the sky for the first time.
Few moments in life match these two moments, the first when you first lift into the sky at the controls of an airplane and the second when you do the same thing, alone.
Moments Long Past
Many times of late memory of past events, some subtle, some not, flit through my thoughts. Time speeds ever onward and through some strange distortion, the more years which lay behind me, the faster my progress through time seems.
When I was writing The Lonely Hours, I was stunned to realize that some of the events I was recalling happened over thirty years ago. Just days ago we were talking about something which happened in the 80's. That is practically ancient history now.
I still remember reading a book which had a year, as a title. Some of you will recognize the book when I say it was written by George Orwell. It seemed totally unreal as the year which was the title of the book was so extremely far in the future. At sixteen, I never dreamed that 1984 would ever actually arrive.
For those of you who look back at the years, never forget that those who look forward have yet to experience the dilation of time which age brings. To them, the years are still long, and the press of time has not yet gripped its teeth into their soul.
Think back to childhood. Can you remember how long a year seemed? I sit here, on the first of November and with sudden shock I ask "where has the year gone?"
For many years, I have written technical documents and books, principally the manuals of the software I have designed. Visions of stories flit through my mind, drifting randomly only to be pushed back with the idea of someday. Someday I would take the time to sit down and tell some of the stories I which flood my mind.
For me, someday is now. Always before I feared that others would not appreciate the product of my pin. Now in my later years I finally realize that writers do not write for anyone other than themselves. If I craft a compelling tale, people will want to read it. If I can put on paper, what I see in my mind's eye, that is what is essential.
I hope you need less time to find your way than the long road I trod. As for me, today, after sixty years the yellow brick road lies clearly ahead.
When I was writing The Lonely Hours, I was stunned to realize that some of the events I was recalling happened over thirty years ago. Just days ago we were talking about something which happened in the 80's. That is practically ancient history now.
I still remember reading a book which had a year, as a title. Some of you will recognize the book when I say it was written by George Orwell. It seemed totally unreal as the year which was the title of the book was so extremely far in the future. At sixteen, I never dreamed that 1984 would ever actually arrive.
For those of you who look back at the years, never forget that those who look forward have yet to experience the dilation of time which age brings. To them, the years are still long, and the press of time has not yet gripped its teeth into their soul.
Think back to childhood. Can you remember how long a year seemed? I sit here, on the first of November and with sudden shock I ask "where has the year gone?"
For many years, I have written technical documents and books, principally the manuals of the software I have designed. Visions of stories flit through my mind, drifting randomly only to be pushed back with the idea of someday. Someday I would take the time to sit down and tell some of the stories I which flood my mind.
For me, someday is now. Always before I feared that others would not appreciate the product of my pin. Now in my later years I finally realize that writers do not write for anyone other than themselves. If I craft a compelling tale, people will want to read it. If I can put on paper, what I see in my mind's eye, that is what is essential.
I hope you need less time to find your way than the long road I trod. As for me, today, after sixty years the yellow brick road lies clearly ahead.
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