Added intro to Commodore 64 story, and kibibytes

002/codex-002.tex

@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@
 % \begin{Verbatim}...\end{Verbatim} <-- Note the capitalization!
 \usepackage{fancyvrb}
 
+\raggedbottom
+
 % Pictures!
 \usepackage{tikz}
 
@@ -125,6 +127,77 @@ 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.
+
+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.
+
+Computers are just a series of switches. Each switch is a \textit{bit}. Eight bits make up a \textit{byte}, which is enough memory to remember a single character.\footnote{ See \href{https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs101/bits-bytes.html}{\texttt{https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs101/bits-bytes.html}} for more information.} Since each bit is just a one or a zero, there are 256 possible different characters you can record in a byte. (Mathematically, it works out to $ 2^n $ possible combinations. Since in this case $n=8$, then we have $2^8=256$ different combinations of ones and zeroes.\footnote{ To see the actual combinations, visit \href{https://user.eng.umd.edu/~nsw/chbe250/number.htm}{\texttt{https://user.eng.umd.edu/$\sim$nsw/chbe250/numbe \\ r.htm}}, and to see which characters those numbers translate to, see \href{https://www.rapidtables.com/code/text/ascii-table.html}{\texttt{https://www.rapidtables \\ .com/code/text/ascii-table.html}}.})
+
+Time for some math, which looks like this:
+
+\begin{scriptsize}
+\begin{tabular}{r c c c c c l}
+ & & & & & 1~byte &= 8~bits \\
+ & & & 1 kb &=& 1,024 bytes &= 8,192 bits \\
+ & 1 MB &=& 1,024 kb &=& 1,048,576 bytes &= 8,388,608 bits \\
+ 1 GB =& 1,024 MB &=& 1,048,576 kb &=& 1,073,741,824 bytes &= 8,589,934,592 bits
+\end{tabular}
+\end{scriptsize}
+
+\bigskip
+
+If you don't trust my math, check out \href{https://www.matisse.net/bitcalc/}{\texttt{https://www.matisse.net/bit \\ calc/}}, which is where I did this math. It's actually kind of fun, and they get bonus points for including the source code for the perl script behind this sorcery.
+
+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:
+
+\[
+8\text{ GB} \times \frac{1,048,576 \text{ kb}}{1 \text{ GB}} \times \frac{1 \text{ Commodore 64}}{64 \text{ kb}} = 16,384 \text{ Commodore 64's}
+\]
+
+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.}
+
+\medskip
+
+\hrule
+
+\medskip
+
+\textbf{Oh look, it's a diversion}
+
+\begin{multicols}{2}
+If you've studied the metric system, you know that \textit{kilo-} is a prefix that means a ``a thousand'' and \textit{mega-} is a prefix that means ``a million.''
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The following table is filled with so much beauty:
+
+\begin{small}
+\begin{align*}
+ 1~kibibyte~(ki) &= 1,024~bytes \\
+ 1~mebibyte~(Mi) &= 1,024^2~bytes \\
+ 1~gibibyte~(Gi) &= 1,024^3~bytes \\
+ 1~tebibyte~(Ti) &= 1,024^4~bytes \\
+ 1~pebibyte~(Pi) &= 1,024^5~bytes
+\end{align*}
+\end{small}
+
+I can at last sleep soundly.
+\end{multicols}
+
+\medskip
+
+\hrule
+
+\medskip
+
 \section{High School Computer Class}
 
 \chapter{A Scanner Clearly, or More Thoughts on Being an Archivist}
@@ -341,11 +414,17 @@ Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone t
 As a big part of the reason I created this was to learn more about LaTeX, I'm keeping up with this running list.
 
 \begin{enumerate}
- \item Need a little horizontal space? Use \verb|\hphantom{<stuff>}| where \texttt{<stuff>} is any standard unit. (I use this down below to separate the two images with borders when they are on the same line.)\footnote{There is more information on spacing at \href{https://latexref.xyz/Spaces.html}{\texttt{https://latexref.xyz/Spaces.html}}.}
+
+ \item Need a little horizontal space? Use \verb|\hphantom{<stuff>}| where \texttt{<stuff>} is any standard unit. (I use this down below to separate the two images with borders when they are on the same line.)\footnote{There is more information on spacing at \href{https://latexref.xyz/Spaces.html}{\texttt{https://latexref.xyz/Spaces.html}} and also at \href{https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/74353/what-commands-are-there-for-horizontal-spacing/74354}{\texttt{https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/74353/what-commands-are-there-for-horizontal-spacing/74354}}.}
+ 
  \item Need a box around an \verb|\includegraphics[scale=•]{•}| item? Just wrap it in \verb|\frame{}|. (Ditto.)
- \item Want a blockquote? Use the \texttt{quote} environment. (I wrapped mine in a \texttt{small} environment to help set it off, as most blockquotes or indented quotations use a slightly smaller font.\footnote{Yes, it bugs me when people use the word \textit{quote} as a noun, but the usage is here to stay, so I shall learn to live (somewhat begrudgingly) with it.})
+ 
+ \item Want a blockquote? Use the \texttt{quote} environment. (I wrapped mine in a \texttt{small} environment to help set it off, as most blockquotes or indented quotations use a slightly smaller font in traditional printed material.\footnote{Yes, it bugs me when people use the word \textit{quote} as a noun, but the usage is here to stay, so I shall learn to live (somewhat begrudgingly) with it.})
+ 
  \item You can draw with the \texttt{tikz} package. You can also draw chemical structures with the \texttt{chemdraw} package. I have no idea how to write about those things on paper in an interesting way, so it may be some time (or never---never is always an option) before I get around to that. But there's an example at the end.
+ 
  \item You can also draw just using the \texttt{picture} environment. \footnote{There is a good tutorial at \href{https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Picture_environment}{\texttt{https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Picture\_environ \\ ment}}.}
+ 
  \item As with most things that *nix-based, there is usually more than one way to get to where you are going. Often, there are many ways, and they lead you down paths you hadn't even imagined. A little research goes a long way. (See the next two sections as examples of this. I had not even thought about this before I sat down to write this.)
 \end{enumerate}
 
@@ -508,7 +587,7 @@ I didn't draw this. It's an example I got from \href{https://texample.net//tikz/
   \node [font=\Large] {\LaTeX};
 \end{tikzpicture}
 
-I am very comfortable living in the center of that Venn diagram.
+I am very comfortable living in the center of that Venn diagram. \\ (And yes, I played around with that code to make it a bit \\ smaller---as one does.)
 \end{center}
 
 \bigskip
@@ -555,7 +634,7 @@ Lines 2-3 draw the rectangle, and line 4 draws the triangle. Apparently, I resiz
 	\end{tikzpicture}
 \end{center}
 
-\noindent Well, time to stop playing and get back to work.
+\noindent Word of advice: only change one variable at a time. Anyway, time to stop playing and get back to work.
 
 
 \end{document}