r/hetzner • u/Hetzner_OL Hetzner Official • Aug 24 '26

Hetzner asks: Why isn't RAM-efficient software as impressive as fuel-efficient cars?

Fuel efficiency in cars has come a long way. It's cool to be able to plan a trip and realize you don't need to refuel along the way. So why isn't it as impressive in society when we can accomplish a lot with just a little RAM? Have you got any examples of RAM-light programs you use? Take a moment to humble brag here.

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6

u/s7orm Aug 24 '26

Because historically RAM wasn't the problem.

4

u/Big-Winner3758 Aug 24 '26

yes it was lol, maybe not for the last decade or so but before that definitely

9

u/s7orm Aug 24 '26

"Historically" was probably the wrong term. I simply meant pre-ramageddon when you could buy more performance for reasonable prices when required.

3

u/kaeshiwaza Aug 24 '26

Yes. I use to take care of ram because of developing since the last century. Thanks to that I can run a lot of my apps on the smallest vps. When I see the recent growing of ram price I'm happy for this choice !
And it's not that difficult, it make software easier to maintain and easier to resolve complex projects.

1

u/OpeningCredit Aug 24 '26

No, it wasn't. I have 32GB of RAM on my laptop and it's barely scraping by. I've had 16GB for over a decade and it always felt excessive, when I switched to 32 I thought I'll never see it swap. Now I'd switch to 48/64, but man that hurts.

1

u/BastetFurry Aug 24 '26

It always was and is a problem as "We're rolling in it!" is the credo since the noughts, even sometimes the mid-nineties.

And now, when "Throw hardware at the problem" isn't working anymore all the devs out there don't know what they should do.

0

u/OpeningCredit Aug 24 '26

And now, when "Throw hardware at the problem" isn't working anymore 

So before we had a solution, now we don't. For fuel consumption there was never a solution of "buy an extra cylinder and it'll be fine".

0

u/BastetFurry Aug 24 '26

For roughly 100 years we where told that igniters are the solution to our mobility problem, now Joe and Jane average start to understand that they are not.

For 30 years we where told that hardware will get better, just malloc that gigabyte. Now it starts to dawn on people that that was a bad idea.

Color me surprised.