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Kenneth John Odle 2021-11-30 21:46:10 -05:00
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002/codex-002.tex
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@ -86,6 +86,9 @@
% Pictures!
\usepackage{tikz}
% Cancel units in math mode!
\usepackage{cancel}
\author{Kenneth John Odle}
\title{
{\Huge the codex} \\
@ -129,7 +132,7 @@ Boring, early life stuff when my world smelled like sweat and disinfectant and r
\section{The Joy of Commodore 64}
The first computer I ever owned (and thus could use whenever I wanted to, provided it did not annoy the adults in the house) was a Commodore-64. (And yes, my use of this machine seemed to bug adults no end, and I have no idea why. I guess the same adults who thought it was a waste of time playing video games simply thought that a computer is another, more expensive type of video game. The lesson I learned here is to try to get some knowledge before you jump to criticism.) The ``64'' stood for 64 kilobytes, which was the amount of memory it had. If you've never heard of a kilobyte before, and are wondering how many megabytes that is, it's time for some math, and also introductory computer science.
The first computer I ever owned (and thus could use whenever I wanted to, provided it did not annoy the adults in the house) was a Commodore-64. (And yes, my use of this machine seemed to bug adults no end, and I have no idea why. I guess the same adults who thought it was a waste of time playing video games simply thought that a computer is another, more expensive type of video game. The lesson I learned here is to try to get some knowledge before you jump to criticism.) The ``64'' stood for 64 kilobytes, which was the amount of memory it had. If you've never heard of a kilobyte before, and are wondering how many gigabytes that is, it's time for some math, and also introductory computer science.
Hold on. You've never heard of a \textit{kilobyte}? Wow, either we've really moved along, or I'm old, or both. Probably both. My knees hurt in the morning. Yeah, probably both.
@ -153,7 +156,7 @@ If you don't trust my math, check out \href{https://www.matisse.net/bitcalc/}{\t
Anyway, I'm driving a laptop now that has 8 GB of memory in it. (And I've seriously considered upgrading it to 16 GB). A gigabyte is equal to 1,048,576 kilobytes. The math (and heck, let's use dimensional analysis because it's fun) looks like this:
\[
8\text{ GB} \times \frac{1,048,576 \text{ kb}}{1 \text{ GB}} \times \frac{1 \text{ Commodore 64}}{64 \text{ kb}} = 16,384 \text{ Commodore 64's}
8\text{ \cancel{GB}} \times \frac{1,048,576 \text{ \cancel{kb}}}{1 \text{ \cancel{GB}}} \times \frac{1 \text{ Commodore 64}}{64 \text{ \cancel{kb}}} = 16,384 \text{ Commodore 64's}
\]
So the computer I'm on now has as much memory as 16,384 of the computer I had when I was 13 years old. If that doesn't seem like a lot to you, I paid \$175 for this computer (used) in 2016, and paid \$200 (new) for a Commodore 64 in 1981. That's \$3,276,800 in 1981 dollars, which is the equivalent of \$8,651,869.50 in 2016 dollars. I didn't have three million dollars when I was thirteen, and I certainly don't have over eight million dollars now. Sadly.\footnote{Check out \href{https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1981}{\texttt{https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1981}} for the actual numbers.}
@ -173,13 +176,15 @@ Hold on. (Again.)
1,024 is \textit{not} a thousand, and 1,048,576 is \textit{not} a million. For my entire life, we've just walked right past this and pretended that we didn't notice. Doing science stuff? \textit{kilo} is a 1,000 and \textit{mega} is a million. Doing computer stuff? Then \textit{kilo} means 1,000\textit{ish} and \textit{mega} means a million\textit{ish}. Move along now, nothing to see here.
That discrepancy should bug you. It bugs me, but I also have bills to pay, so when someone asks ``\textit{how much} does it bug you?'' my honest answer is that I've worked hard to not let it bug me.
That discrepancy should bug you. It bugs me, but I also have bills to pay, so when someone asks ``\textit{how much} does it bug you?'' my honest answer is that I've worked hard to not let it bug me all that much.
But still.
Fortunately, it also bugged the International Electrotechnical Commission (an international standards commission whose job it is to standardize things) enough so that they introduced a few new terms in 1998.\footnote{The standard is ISO/IEC 80000, section 13. This standard is all about the International System of Quantities, and if you're into that sort of thing, it is utterly \textit{fascinating} reading.} \textbf{Kibibyte} means \textit{exactly} 1,024 bytes, and not one byte more, not one byte less. \textbf{Mebibyte} is exactly 1,048,576 bytes. And so on with gibibytes, tebibytes, and pebibytes. They are all some form of $2^n$, which means they \textit{accurately} describe just how many bytes we're talking about here.
Fortunately, it also bugged the International Electrotechnical Commission (an international standards commission whose job it is to standardize things) enough so that they introduced a few new terms in 1998.\footnote{The standard is ISO/IEC 80000, section 13. This standard is all about the International System of Quantities, and if you're into that sort of thing, it is utterly \textit{fascinating} reading. I'm not being facetious here---humans measure \textit{everything}, and this document describes how we do it.} \textbf{Kibibyte} means \textit{exactly} 1,024 bytes, and not one byte more, not one byte less. \textbf{Mebibyte} is exactly 1,048,576 bytes. And so on with gibibytes, tebibytes, and pebibytes. They are all some form of $2^n$, which means they \textit{accurately} describe just how many bytes we're talking about here.
The following table is filled with so much beauty:
The following table is filled with much beauty:
\vspace{-12pt}
\begin{small}
\begin{align*}
@ -191,6 +196,8 @@ The following table is filled with so much beauty:
\end{align*}
\end{small}
\vspace{-12pt}
I can at last sleep soundly.
\end{multicols}
@ -205,10 +212,12 @@ Let's get back to our story.
I purchased this computer from the back of a K-Mart, in much the same way the men in town went to the back of the video store to rent porn. I guess it's fair to say that I lusted after this computer (although a much different form of lust) so the comparison is apt.
\begin{wrapfigure}[]{h}{0.5\textwidth}
\vspace{-12pt}
\includegraphics[scale=0.25]{c64}
\vspace{-12pt}
\end{wrapfigure}
Unfortunately, when you bought a computer in those days you got exactly that in the box: a computer. There was no monitor, there was no disk drive, there was no printer. You just got a computer in a box with a power cord. I had scrimped and saved forever to buy this, and had fortunately also managed to save enough for a monitor, which in those days was a big, heavy cathode-ray tube device (CRT, for short). One of the selling points of the C-64 was that it was portable. You could just pick it up and take it with you. (It seems like all computers in the movies back in the day either took up entire rooms or buildings---think Hal-9000 in \textit{2001: A Space Odyssey} or something you could carry in your hand---think the tricorders in \textit{Star Trek}. We've never managed a happy medium.) The monitor, however, was anything \textit{but} portable. It was heavy, it was bulky, and it was fragile. Slam a lid closed on a modern laptop and everything will probably be fine. Knock a CRT off the table and it's toast. If it lands on your foot, you'll probably end up in a cast.
Unfortunately, when you bought a computer in those days you got exactly that in the box: a computer. There was no monitor, there was no disk drive, there was no printer. You just got a computer in a box with a power cord. I had scrimped and saved forever to buy this, and had fortunately also managed to save enough for a monitor, which in those days was a big, heavy cathode-ray tube device (CRT, for short). One of the selling points of the C-64 was that it was portable. You could just pick it up and take it with you. (It seems like all computers in the movies back in the day either took up entire rooms or buildings---think Hal-9000 in \textit{2001: A Space Odyssey}---or something you could carry in your hand---think the tricorders in \textit{Star Trek}. We've never managed a happy medium.) The monitor, however, was anything \textit{but} portable. It was heavy, it was bulky, and it was fragile. Slam a lid closed on a modern laptop and everything will probably be fine. Knock a CRT off the table and it's toast. If it lands on your foot, you'll probably end up in the emergency room.
\section{High School Computer Class}
@ -580,7 +589,7 @@ Is this useful? As stated, that's a loaded question, because it's missing two pa
For what it's worth, I've added a repo of these experimental files to my gitea instance. You can find it at \href{https://git.kjodle.net/kjodle/codex-latex-experiments}{\texttt{https://git.kjodle.net/kjodle/codex-latex-experiments}}.
\subsection{Why I Love \LaTeX{}}
\section{Why I Love \LaTeX{}}
I didn't draw this. It's an example I got from \href{https://texample.net//tikz/}{\texttt{https://texample.net//tik \\ z/}}. I sometimes find it easier to learn a thing by finding examples and playing around with the parameters to see what they do. \footnote{If you are interested in drawing in LaTeX, be sure to check out \href{https://texample.net/tikz/resources/}{\texttt{https://texample.net/tikz/resources/}}}
@ -646,7 +655,7 @@ Lines 2-3 draw the rectangle, and line 4 draws the triangle. Apparently, I resiz
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\noindent Word of advice: only change one variable at a time. Anyway, time to stop playing and get back to work.
\noindent \textbf{Word of advice:} only change one variable at a time. Anyway, time to stop playing and get back to work.
\end{document}