Re: [LAU] More Hammondology

On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 09:27:28PM +0100, Folderol wrote: It *is* the right word. But it's a form of engineering that is all but lost today. It's using the imperfections of something to advantage, it's combining different functions into one circuit, either by design or by 'adjusted accident'. If today an analog electronics engineer designs e.g. a filter he will turn up a circuit, probably using some opamps, that is almost perfect. Its action will not depend on e.g. the impedances of the preceding or following stages in the processing to which it will be connected. Today that's easy. In the sixties, when every transistor counted, that was not the case - there would be unavoidable forms of interaction between parts of an equipment, and in many cases that was exploited in quite creative ways. It also makes emulating these circuits in software quite difficult, they do not consist of a series of independent logical blocks. Software engineering tends to be almost the opposite, with interfaces designed separately from function, and abstraction for its own sake being praised as a good thing. Ciao, -- FA Io lo dico sempre: l'Italia è troppo stretta e lunga.