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Discussion on: The Dark Side Of The Magic

 
codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald • Edited

if we will follow this logic we all can write programs in assembly

...and we literally could. Albeit, it wouldn't be a good use of our time.

Why even bother with those higher level languages and abstractions?

Because they allow us to save repeated implementation effort, not because they prevent us from thinking about the underlying concepts. For example...

  • When I use the sorted() function in Python, I know I'm using Timsort, which has a worst-case algorithmic efficiency of O(n log n). Whether that has an implication on what I'm doing depends on the situation, but I'm not in the dark about it in any case. (The abstraction means I don't have to reimplement Timsort myself.)

  • If I'm storing the high and low temperature of the day to a single decimal place, and I'm working in C++, C, or Java, I will use float instead of double. I know I don't need double precision for a number which is merely meant to be scientifically approximate, so I don't want to lazily waste the extra memory or processing time. (The abstraction means I don't have to shove the bytes into memory myself.)

  • If I'm writing a function that takes a list as an argument, I need to be intentional about either my use or my avoidance of side effects, and that requires an understanding of how the list is being passed: Copy? Reference? Assignment? (The abstraction means I don't have to fiddle with registers.)

  • When I am deciding between using a loop, recursion, or a generator expression (in, say, Python), I need to understand the pros and cons of each. The wrong decision here can have significant impacts on the performance of the code. (The abstraction means I don't have to mess with assembly jump instructions and/or manual loop unrolling.)

  • If I'm storing a collection of data, I need to understand how it needs to be accessed. Do I need random-access? Am I only adding and accessing values from the front or the back? Does it matter what order it's stored in? Those are just some of the fundamental differences between how a list, a stack, a queue, and an array are stored and accessed in memory. The wrong data structure will at best waste resources, and at worst introduce significant bugs. (The abstractions means I don't have to reimplement these data structures.)

In all these cases, I'm using abstractions, but I'm understanding what the implications of those abstractions are. One can afford to "wave off" a few of these things now and then, but if one habitually ignores them altogether, their code is invariably more prone to bugs, errors, inefficiencies, and maintainability problems. Wanton carelessness in these areas is why we have (for example) web pages that take up more memory than entire operating systems of yesteryear.

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stereobooster profile image
stereobooster

It's very hard to talk to you, I'm not sure are you being serious or trolling.

Following this logic we as well need to understand electronics, otherwise we use abstractions of hardware without realising implications (rowhammer attacks).

Turing tarpit it is.

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codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald • Edited

I'm quite serious, and in fact, there is a degree to which programmers do need to understand some important principles of computer engineering. (Which principles depends on which abstractions you're using, and thus, unpacking.)

As you follow each abstraction down as you encounter it, you learn more and more about the underlying principles of computer programming, and yes, sometimes even hardware. These have profoundly positive influences on your programming skills.

I think a lot of people feel defensive about this because it seems intimidating. They think "I'm not a real programmer because I have no idea what a register is!" To that, I'd say no, you ARE a real programmer. Every day will present a new opportunity to learn. You don't have to try to learn everything, nor do you need to learn it all right now.

The important point, the universal distinguishing characteristic of a good programmer, is simply the willingness to keep learning. When you realize you must make a decision about an abstraction, when you encounter a new tool, when you have a more senior developer point out a pitfall you overlooked, you take the plunge down the rabbit hole and fill in the gaps.

Moment by moment, day by day, fragment by fragment, you uncover the deeper truths underneath the "magic", and you become a better programmer for it.


Example: if you followed just one of those rabbit holes — data structures — all the way down to the silicon, you're really only going to encounter basic memory addressing and CPU caching (and maybe a bit of binary jazz). Neither is as scary or complex as they sound, and both are incredibly enlightening. Once understood, they become as elementary as multiplication.

Yet in that same scenario, understanding (say) how the power supply unit and how it provides voltage to the RAM is utterly irrelevant; it has no meaningful effect on the fundamental concept.