From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2015 13:42:51 +0100 From: tlaronde@polynum.com To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Message-ID: <20151127124251.GA625@polynum.com> References: <835ECE9E-472C-448D-8125-67BBACB09752@gmail.com> <69275011-637E-4D0C-9E17-2F0CF1B93503@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.24 (2015-08-30) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Subject: Re: [9fans] Compiling ken-cc on Linux Topicbox-Message-UUID: 78da0dea-ead9-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Fri, Nov 27, 2015 at 09:13:20AM +0100, Giacomo Tesio wrote: > > I know nothing about compilers, but actually gcc and clang dimension and > complexity is astonishing. It's not astonishing: it's research. They want to prove that a black hole does exist. So they write a "model", a software implementation of black holes that is, indeed, able to absorb every bit of RAM, every block of disk, every CPU cycle so that whatever is put in a computer, nothing can ever go out. And the thing finally collapses due to its very size: so big that no one is able to understand and correct it. Then it is called: "standard", a de facto no varietur, not because it is perfect not to mention useful, but because it is impossible to evolve. It's a kind of success (though there are a lot of competing implementations of software black holes, improving almost endlessly: less and less signal, more and more noise). -- Thierry Laronde http://www.kergis.com/ http://www.arts-po.fr/ Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89 250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C