I can code my stuff ok on an older model. I’m sure there are some stacks that need more resources, but I’m having a hard time thinking of which.
Admittedly, on a laptop that is 20+ years old, I cannot surf the web AND run docker at the same time
Dude, I’m coding every day and I know what hardware requirements I have. You can write some code slowly on a potato but a lot of software development requires tons of RAM and powerful CPU. Linus Torvalds is using Threadripper 9960X for a reason.
limer@lemmy.ml 13 hours ago
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 5 hours ago
Just running rust-analyzer for not-so-big project requires 5GB of RAM. Inspecting libraries will start another process and I sometimes have 2 projects open at the same time. You can work without it, using simple text editor but DX will way worse and unless you’re some Rust guru you will work slower. Compilation time will be way worse on older CPU so you will iterate slower. That’s why Linus is using a Threadripper.
Running integration tests for Java project I’m working on maxes out my 16 core CPU. My co-workers with older laptops struggled to set up the development environment and build the project because they were constantly running out of RAM.
Yes, we were all writing code 20 years ago in vim with just syntax highlighting but new stacks and new tools require new hardware.
balsoft@lemmy.ml 12 hours ago
It’s nicer to develop anything on a beefy machine, I was rocking a 7950X until recently. The compile times are a huge boon, and for some modern bloated bullshit (looking at you, Android) you definitely need a beefy machine to build it in a realistic timeframe.
However, we can totally solve a lot of real-world problems with old cheap crappy hardware, we just never wanted to because it was “cheaper” for some poor soul in China to build a new PC every year than for a developer to spend an extra week thinking about efficiency. That appears to be changing now, especially if your code will be running on consumer hardware.
My dad used to “write” software for basic aerodynamic modelling on punchcards, on a mainframe that has about us much computing power as some modern microcontrollers. You wouldn’t even consider it a potato by today’s standards. I’m sure if we have our wits about us, we can optimize our stacks to compile code on a friggin 3.5GHz 10-core CPU (which are 10 year old now).
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 4 hours ago
I’m sure some people would still be able to code just fine on crap hardware but it’s silly to think Open Source will not suffer if access to good hardware is limited.