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The world could run on older hardware if software optimization was a priority

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837 points turrini | 1 comments | 13 May 25 10:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.218s | source
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bob1029 ◴[13 May 25 12:26 UTC] No.43972132[source]▶
We've been able to run order matching engines for entire exchanges on a single thread for over a decade by this point.

I think this specific class of computational power - strictly serialized transaction processing - has not grown at the same rate as other metrics would suggest. Adding 31 additional cores doesn't make the order matching engine go any faster (it could only go slower).

If your product is handling fewer than several million transactions per second and you are finding yourself reaching for a cluster of machines, you need to back up like 15 steps and start over.

replies(3): >>43972195 #>>43972696 #>>43973292 #
1. HolyLampshade ◴[13 May 25 12:32 UTC] No.43972195[source]▶
> We've been able to run order matching engines for entire exchanges on a single thread for over a decade by this point.

This is the bit that really gets me fired up. People (read: system “architects”) were so desperate to “prove their worth” and leave a mark that many of these systems have been over complicated, unleashing a litany of new issues. The original design would still satisfy 99% of use cases and these days, given local compute capacity, you could run an entire market on a single device.