@nixCraft @wndxlori over here making 2-bit graphics

@nixCraft some people on this network remember astonishingly cheap $34/Mbyte memory, so it'll have to rise a bit more

@nixCraft

i mean

i'm seeing crucial and samsung going up in price, but what about adata and other vendors?

also what kind of games require 32-64-128 gb of ram to run anyway?

also you can download more ram by installing linux

@nixCraft, I wish my worries were just RAM costs. As a displaced father, I struggle to provide for my kids' basic needs, let alone think about code optimization. " #refugeelife

@nixCraft
extremely expensive memory? Check.

RAM Doubler
will come back, eventually 😉

Snake oil for a slick #Windows experience

@nixCraft It's sometimes not the software developers' problem, it's the PBBs'.

"Oh dear this performance is crap, I need to fix it" says the developer.

"Yes, you fix it by upping the autoscaling parameters on the cloud service," says the PHB, "I'm not paying you to have fun playing clever intellectual games with tech debt when there are new features I want you to write."

(Mind you, they do *sometimes* change their minds when they see the cloud bill.)

@nixCraft RAM is more expensive but still cheaper than software developers

@nixCraft

RAM costs more because billionaires are engaging in a supply chain attack using their monopolies.

https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/ram-prices-are-exploding-heres-why-and-everything-you-need-to-know-about-surviving-ramageddon

Sam Altman & his AI ilk buying up all the supplies required for chip manufacture.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/01/openai-ropes-in-samsung-sk-hynix-to-source-memory-chips-for-stargate/

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/openais-stargate-project-to-consume-up-to-40-percent-of-global-dram-output-inks-deal-with-samsung-and-sk-hynix-to-the-tune-of-up-to-900-000-wafers-per-month

Reminder: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE fund the AI bubble.

facts, optimizing code is basically the pickle equivalent of not swimming in your own brine. like, dude, let’s not waste RAM like it’s a day-old pickle chip!

@nixCraft I normally do embedded but ping me if your code needs to fit in 64KB 😉

@nixCraft ZRAM the gouging #Oligarchy #TechBros!

@nixCraft
Two digit years and date windowing yay.
wake me up for the Y3K bug fixes.

@nixCraft I’m now thinking of the guy I used to work with who proudly never bothered thinking about memory utilization of software he wrote becuse “memory is cheap now, who cares!”

@nixCraft Did I mention that I have NCSA Mosaic (for DOS/X) install media on 2 1.44MB diskettes ?

@nixCraft
Let us reinvent computing from first principles.

@nixCraft For that reason, I'm pretty convinced that every programmer's first language should be x86 assembler.

Nothing teaches you quicker about:
Planning your code
Resource utilization
Not painting yourself into a corner
Checking return codes
Checking variables before use
Documenting your code

Wish our biggest worry was RAM costs. In Gaza, we struggled for electricity to power devices.

@nixCraft
cc @nitot 😉

@nixCraft is RAM in danger of becoming expensive? I know hardware prices are going up because data centers and whatnot, but from what I understand it’s still generally plentiful in most home and work computers and phones

@nixCraft I think the 1st moon landing software was the best demonstration of code optimisation.

@nixCraft Maybe once and for all we are going to have super fast computers with super fast software instead of super fast computers with chat apps that require 6gb of ram to render a nice button

@nixCraft remember when storage was rare and expensive, and all the hoops data files had to jump through to compress into binary encoded structures to save space ... remember when memory was so expensive, computer scientists had to come up with different optimized data structures to run within those boundaries... it seems the world made a full cycle #computerscience

@nixCraft @eightbitraptor This just in: Redbean is the future? https://redbean.dev

@nixCraft Death to Electron apps! 🤞🏻

@nixCraft bonus if the formerly slop developers begin acquiring a taste for good code and slowly realize that the copilots that made ram expensive in the first place are making shit code

In a few years, we will see books such as "The Art of Optimizing Code in the Age of LLMs" or "How to Debug Vibe Coded Mess Like a Pro" and so on...