The past few days have been spent on speed optimizations of code. The sort of really hard-core optimizations that I haven’t done in a few years – the ones where you say things like “*five* integer assignments?!” and worry about indirect versus direct references.
It’s certainly been a learning experience. It’s also involved writing something like 2500 lines of code in the past 36 hours, with a similar dose expected for the next 36.
After this, I suspect I will need a nap.
For those of you who haven’t seen the news yet, Google filed a form S-1 this morning.
And that’s the last that I can say for the next six months or so. 🙂
A moment ago, after having some remarkably bizarre bit of code explained to me, I walked back to my desk, saying “I am not taking nearly enough drugs to understand this.”
Or at least, I would have said that, but I was interrupted halfway through “understand” by noticing that my screensaver was showing a rendered 3D cow bouncing up and down as on a trampoline, doing interesting flips.
OK, I stand corrected.
Code runs. Code reads in data. Code runs elaborate curve fits, parametric models, calculates useful parameters. Code then writes the input parameters to the output file, instead of the output data.
Of course, I only notice this after the code runs.
Sigh.
Well, as of now it’s 0400, the code may be approaching functionality, and I’ve managed to be the last person here tonight. Hey, I wonder how long until the early-morning-type people show up…
To do: Go home and sleep. For a long time.
Coming in to work at 0100 to check on a compute job. Good thing I did; it was, in fact, not working, and right now I’m fixing it so it can run while I sleep.
But interesting to note that the place is still pretty much bustling at this hour, too. I’m not sure if people here ever sleep.
Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I don’t, all that often, so maybe they don’t either.
Apparently, the past four hours of coding RPC function calls could have been replaced, completely, with a single line of code, which would also be faster, more reliable, and use less memory.
Bugger.
In the past 24 hours, I’ve looked through a god-awful amount of net.porn.
On second thought, let me rephrase that: I’ve looked through a large amount of god-awful porn.
Some of it may actually have been good. I’m not sure. I’ve lost track.
This can be a very, very strange job sometimes.
First day at Google today. Wow. It’s really as cool as it’s rumored to be.
And I am now really tired. So details later.
I have now been officially indoctrinated. And now, I’m going to… bed.
Update: And now I’m much more awake, feeling strangely at peace. And realizing that it is a far, far better thing to be indoctrinated than inculcated. (I believe that’s what they do to proctologists)
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