

Ask HN: computing in 2014 : your predictions? - critic

How many cores will a typical personal computer have?<p>Will Clojure or Scala replace Java (if so, which)?<p>Will the most popular languages feel like CUDA or Haskell or C#/LINQ?
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cperciva
_How many cores will a typical personal computer have?_

Either 8 or 16, assuming you're counting general-purpose cores. Don't be
surprised if CPUs come with separate vector computing cores (basically like
GPUs have now).

 _Will Clojure or Scala replace Java (if so, which)?_

No.

 _Will the most popular languages feel like CUDA or Haskell or C#/LINQ?_

No. The most popular languages will be new innovations which are popular
solely because they throw out existing paradigms and, in so doing, restrict
themselves to a small number of developers (who therefore trumpet their use of
this language in order to demonstrate their superiority over everybody else).

The most widely used languages will be imperative structured single-address-
space languages with extensive feature sets provided via libraries -- i.e., C
and C-like languages.

~~~
david927
8 or 16? In 5 years? I think Moore's Law will get us more than that. Typical
now is 2 to 4.

And while I agree that the most popular language will be something brand new,
it's based more on non-public information I've seen.

I'm not sure I agree with your "superiority theory". Languages become popular
because of the core problem they're solving. C++ was popular when Windows came
out, Java when the web took off. The next big language will be able to handle
multi-threading easily, so that when we hit 64 cores, it won't be a waste.

~~~
cperciva
_8 or 16? In 5 years? I think Moore's Law will get us more than that. Typical
now is 2 to 4._

The number of transistors per unit area of silicon doubles every generation,
and generations of silicon are coming almost exactly once every 24 months now;
so if the number of transistors per core and area of CPU silicon per system
remained constant, you would see 8 to 16 cores per system 4 years from now.
I'm guessing that the number of transistors per core will continue to grow
slowly, so I figured the fourfold increase in cores would take 5 years instead
of 4.

~~~
critic
Larrabee is supposed to come out in about a year, starting at, according to
some expectations 32 cores.

~~~
cperciva
Larrabee isn't a CPU; it's a GPU.

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Tangurena
_Will the most popular languages feel like CUDA or Haskell or C#/LINQ?_

No. I think the most popular languages will be the cobols of the future: java
and visual basic.

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thomasswift
On a massive scale things won't change that much. It would be cool, but things
will stay mainly the same and people will still use IE 6/7 then.

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thepanister
How many cores will a typical personal computer have?

Well, maybe by 2014, there will be something else other than cores??? Almost
some geeks will create something innovative!!! Who knows?

EDIT: This world is changing in a crazy way... so fast pace more than you
think... specially when it comes to the IT!!!

EDIT: Why would you really give me "0" point?!!!! 8-}

~~~
albertcardona
Don't use multiple '!' or '?' signs: they just tell us you are inexperienced.

Your sentences contain vague speculation. Without any hint of knowledge,
speculation doesn't add anything constructive to the conversation.

Remember, when not knowing what to add, your best comment is silence. Enjoy
the forum.

~~~
thepanister
Albert,

Do you think that everyone who has passed the karma threshold, does really
have the ability to "down vote" a comment? I am talking about the ability, not
the functionality!!!

This comment that I wrote above... I really believe in it, regardless if I am
experienced or not. And anyway I am here to learn... I am here to meet great
people like you... but it's not good at all to keep receiving down votes!

Yesterday, I commented on Paul Buchheit's post about his friendfeed with
mysql.. and I wrote to him that I like him so much... I received down-vote
because I wrote that!!!!!!!! Does it make any sense??!!!

The "guys" who can down-vote, are not angels or prophets... they are people
that I can agree/disagree with them, and they are making mistakes for sure!

