Computers as big as houses... back to the 60's
- Instruction pre-fetching
- This term was used by IBM and referred to the IBM/360, which saved time by
anticipating the most likely next course of action - if the machine "guessed"
incorrectly, nothing was lost; but if right, a few nanoseconds were gained. I gather the current term term is 'speculative execution', which appears to carry some risk, in that discarded lines of action can end up in cached memory - which can later be interrogated by malware.
- Graceful degradation
- This was an ICL 4-70 concept. For a long time the manual said "Graceful
degradation is not yet implemented." When it finally came, it enabled the
machine to do a few useful things if the mains supply was suddenly cut - during
the dying cycles of power the central processing unit managed to store
some vital checkpoints in assorted registers. Hopefully when the power came
back on, you could pick up where you left off.
I have always tried to fashion my life according to these two simple concepts,
that of using idle time to prepare for the statistically-most-likely
outcome - until proved otherwise - and the art of maintaining elegance of
operation, even under pressure so great that it provokes a temporary collapse.
- After-Thought
- Not a computer term, but another concept that I greatly value is that of Constructive Ambiguity. This expression has come to refer to the
sort of 'fudge' that is sometimes required to enable opposing factions to concur on ways of working alongside each other even where they cannot resolve fundamental
disagreements. A sort of kicking the can down the road rather than kicking it out of play altogether. Although the term is today used mainly to refer to diplomatic
discussions, such as the impact of Brexit upon Northern Ireland, I see some parallels with the work of Thomas Cranmer, notably his influence on the wording of the 1662
'Book of Common Prayer' - for example, where should the Celebrant place the emphasis: "although we be unworthy, through our manifold sins,
to offer unto thee ANY sacrifice" OR "although we be unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any SACRIFICE"?