[NMLUG] Philosophical question: CPU/memory/disk cheaper than efficiency?

[niosop at gmail.com (Matthew Bowie)]

There's no hard and fast rule about it.  If the program is running slowly
because of one poorly written query or something, then it would only take an
hour or so to fix.  That's a one time cost of not much.  Also, it depends on
the type of program and type of machine.  If you're planning on
leasing/co-locating a server for this purpose and you're using it only for
that program, then it's probably worth looking at optimizing the code.  If
it's a locally running process and you can use the machine for other
purposes when it's not running that program, then it might be worth getting
another machine.

Where the time vs. hardware tradeoff really comes into play is during
initial development.  Programs written using a RAD programming language like
C# or Python, or a web framework like Django/Ruby on Rails are probably
going to run slower than an equivalent one written as a tightly coded C CGI,
but the time saved in development will most likely more than pay for the
additional hardware to make it run as fast.  Not to mention maintenance on
the program, modifications, etc.

So, in short, it depends on what program you're talking about, and what it's
problem is  :)

Matt

On 4/9/07, Kelly Jones <kelly.terry.jones at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> And now, a philosophical question:
>
> If I have a program that runs slowly (or hogs so much CPU/memory/disk
> that it slows other processes to a crawl), is it cheaper to:
>
> % Work to re-code the program to be more efficient and use less resources?
>
> % Increase the amount of CPU/memory/disk I have, or buy another
> machine just to run this program?
>
> Someone told me this was a no-brainer, and that it was a generally
> accepted fact that computer CPU/memory/disk was much cheaper than
> programmer time. True?
>
> Have there been studies done on this? Articles written?
>
> --
> We're just a Bunch Of Regular Guys, a collective group that's trying
> to understand and assimilate technology. We feel that resistance to
> new ideas and technology is unwise and ultimately futile.
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-- 
Matthew Bowie
Programmer/IT Consultant
niosop at gmail.com
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