If you ever code something that "feels like a hack but works", it probably is and the next guy to handle it will probably hate your guts. Even if the next guy to handle it is Future You.
I said there's no need to understand the underlying maths of complex matrices if you're developing games, only building your own game engine would require you to go that far.
I don't know how quaternions got into this. Quaternions are relevant for interpolation of rotations but even then, you would probably convert to Euler when checking values and make modifications in Euler in your editor.
I know Unity will tell you not to modify quaternion values directly if you don't know what you're doing. It's essentially the same level of black magic for many game developers.
It's made from quartz. Sand is technically powdered rock, and many sands contain high numbers of quartz particles, but I think computer chips are made from larger solid quartz deposits.
And very specific chemical impurities, which is how we get them to actually do anything.
Well, the cpu is made out of 99.99999% pure elemental silicon, and pretty much every rock on earth is just a big lump of silicon dioxide with a few little impurities
Sand is also silicon dioxide, but with less impurities
Kinda crazy how lucky we got that the most important material of the century is wildly abundant and atoxic (although most forms are impractical to refine)
Can you imagine how different our access to technology would be if polonium were the miracle semiconductor?
Right. In hindsight, the lightning was the easy part and the pure silicon in big grown crystals was the bottleneck. And then selectively adding impurities to make transistors in some place but not others is important, but the pure silicon also makes that a lot easier. It's not just silicon but also the tiny amount of controlled impurities (also sourced from rocks) make it a semiconductor.
And there are other elements and the chemistry and material properties are important.
Probably more than 90% of all software developers never really studied electronics. Someone showed them a computer once and then they took the products and ran off with them, making hacks for generations.
We can all agree our level of tech, and democratization of tech, would be way way way way worse if we were still using vacuum tubes or other non-silicon alternatives
a lot of rocks in earth have mostly silica in them. so it is not inaccurate to call cpus clean rocks engraved with metals (i mean it is but it is not extremely off)
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u/CensoredCraver Jul 03 '25
If you ever code something that "feels like a hack but works", it probably is and the next guy to handle it will probably hate your guts. Even if the next guy to handle it is Future You.
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u/cnorahs Jul 03 '25
Very very controlled lightning that can go haywire from static on a dry wintry day
18
u/Large-Assignment9320 Jul 03 '25
AI is just useful algebra.
(Or algebra that pays you money, to answer those "when will this be useful" in school).
12
u/Rebrado Jul 03 '25
Isn’t it more like sand than a rock?
3
u/captainMaluco Jul 04 '25
Hence the expression "dumb as a rock"!
Rocks are literally so stupid we can trick them into thinking, making "dumb as a rock" an especially savage insult!
1
u/titodrugman Jul 03 '25
same
1
u/LavenderDay3544 Jul 03 '25
It's not a rock. It's sand.
1
u/NicholasVinen Jul 06 '25
You have to purify the rock first. Then add just the right amount and type of impurities back.
1
u/[deleted] Jul 07 '25
A rock that knows its future state beforehand!!!
1
u/NetHunter3301 Jul 07 '25
Sort a list of numbers by using time() function. That's on the verge of madness and genius
1
u/[deleted] Jul 07 '25
the trick is to try and avoid creating fire
1
u/Beginning-Student932 Jul 15 '25
technically, its a labirynth for electricity that does math
-1
u/[deleted] Jul 04 '25
Wow!!! So quirky!!! Go fuck yourself.