Wirth's law

As Wirth 's law (English Wirth 's Law ) in computer science is the phenomenon considered that software in less time is slower faster than hardware.

1995 Niklaus Wirth based in the article " A Plea for Lean Software" ( " A plea for lean software " ), among others, the following two statements:

"Software Expands to fill the available memory. "

"Software is getting slower more proceed rapidly than hardware Becomes faster. "

The first of these statements is actually, even if this is so does not cite Wirth of Parkinson's. The first Parkinson's law is in reality "Work Expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. ". A version used by Wirth in lectures is:

" The software is faster slower than the hardware becomes faster. "

The hardware was and is noticeably faster with time. This rapid development is in turn described by Moore's Law. Wirth's law adds to the that of the faster hardware but does not cause faster execution of tasks, as it simultaneously increased by the increased requirements complexity of software that win more than cancels.

In his article, Wirth denounces corresponding to carelessness when it comes to unnecessarily large software ( FATware ), and calls for a return to simple algorithms and simple tools.

A manifest example of Wirthsche law is the startup current of a computer, in which the initialization of the hardware and the operating system is performed. This takes much longer despite faster hardware today.