When I first heard about the LHC (partly this was the reason for the lack of updates in this site for the past few months (my pet tiger and I were building an anti-singularity/anti-spaghettification floating bunker that could withstand a black hole (Yes it is possible (but no we won't be giving out the secret for now (but here's a hint)))).
Let me do that again, too many open and close parentheses already...
When I first heard about the Large Hadron Collider (wikipedia link / msnbc.techscience link / boston big picture (BIG pictures indeed (here we go again with these parentheses)) my first reaction was joy.
Joy.
Yes. Joy.
Joy... not because of the promised crispier Tv screens nor faster internet connection or other potential payoffs in the fields of telecommunications, medicine and energy.
(Though I must admit I'm not rooting for these scientists with their Grid to find 'The God Particle'. Science would be more interesting if after a year or two they'll still be singing U2's song.)
It was joy because of the promise of a possible discovery of alternate dimensions.
Of parallel universes.
For developers like you and me working on several simultaneous projects at once for different clients it is a vision of hope.
Imagine if I can just divide N tasks even to let's say distribute them into N/4 parallel universes, I can divide a month's work into just one Earth week's work of time.
Considering that merging them back together would not cost that much.
But even then if it takes one more week to merge them all together that would still result in two extra weeks.
Two extra weeks of doing the things that I really like. Code-related and non-code related. That includes a time for playing LEGO.
Pretty exciting.
It was the way to go.
These parallel universes.
The hope.
The only hope were all other hope and its derivatives will be measured.
Exciting.
Very exciting.
...
Until that morning just days ago when I met Master Foodahaha(xx).
Don't bother asking me about his name and the extra xx's. (He insisted his name transcends structure.)
But he pointed me out to something more enlightening.
More enlightening than the LHC and their Grid and the Higgs and multi-dimensions.
Something that Master Geoffrey James partially touched on and translated a decade ago but has been existing for centuries in various 'forms'.
That is... The TAO of Programming.
In the beginning was the Tao. The Tao gave birth to Space and Time. Therefore Space and Time are Yin and Yang of programming.
Programmers that do not comprehend the Tao are always running out of time and space for their programs. Programmers that comprehend the Tao always have enough time and space to accomplish their goals.
How could it be otherwise?
- Geoffrey James / The TAO of Programming
Ah... enlightenment.
