One for the sparks

Discussion in 'Electricians' Talk' started by spen123, Jan 20, 2023.

  1. Comlec

    Comlec Screwfix Select

    I first read this fable over thirty years ago and learnt a valuable lesson

    Once upon a time, in a kingdom not far from here, a king summoned two of his advisors for a test. He showed them both a shiny metal box with two slots in the top, a control knob, and a lever. "What do you think this is?"

    One advisor, an engineer, answered first. "It is a toaster," he said. The king asked, "How would you design an embedded computer for it?" The engineer replied, "Using a four-bit microcontroller, I would write a simple program that reads the darkness knob and quantizes its position to one of 16 shades of darkness, from snow white to coal black. The program would use that darkness level as the index to a 16-element table of initial timer values. Then it would turn on the heating elements and start the timer with the initial value selected from the table. At the end of the time delay, it would turn off the heat and pop up the toast. Come back next week, and I'll show you a working prototype."

    The second advisor, a computer scientist, immediately recognized the danger of such short-sighted thinking. He said, "Toasters don't just turn bread into toast, they are also used to warm frozen waffles. What you see before you is really a breakfast food cooker. As the subjects of your kingdom become more sophisticated, they will demand more capabilities. They will need a breakfast food cooker that can also cook sausage, fry bacon, and make scrambled eggs. A toaster that only makes toast will soon be obsolete. If we don't look to the future, we will have to completely redesign the toaster in just a few years."

    "With this in mind, we can formulate a more intelligent solution to the problem. First, create a class of breakfast foods. Specialize this class into subclasses: grains, pork, and poultry. The specialization process should be repeated with grains divided into toast, muffins, pancakes, and waffles; pork divided into sausage, links, and bacon; and poultry divided into scrambled eggs, hard- boiled eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs, and various omelet classes."

    "The ham and cheese omelet class is worth special attention because it must inherit characteristics from the pork, dairy, and poultry classes. Thus, we see that the problem cannot be properly solved without multiple inheritance. At run time, the program must create the proper object and send a message to the object that says, 'Cook yourself.' The semantics of this message depend, of course, on the kind of object, so they have a different meaning to a piece of toast than to scrambled eggs."

    "Reviewing the process so far, we see that the analysis phase has revealed that the primary requirement is to cook any kind of breakfast food. In the design phase, we have discovered some derived requirements. Specifically, we need an object-oriented language with multiple inheritance. Of course, users don't want the eggs to get cold while the bacon is frying, so concurrent processing is required, too."

    "We must not forget the user interface. The lever that lowers the food lacks versatility, and the darkness knob is confusing. Users won't buy the product unless it has a user-friendly, graphical interface. When the breakfast cooker is plugged in, users should see a cowboy boot on the screen. Users click on it, and the message 'Booting UNIX v.8.3' appears on the screen. (UNIX 8.3 should be out by the time the product gets to the market.) Users can pull down a menu and click on the foods they want to cook."

    "Having made the wise decision of specifying the software first in the design phase, all that remains is to pick an adequate hardware platform for the implementation phase. An Intel 80386 with 8MB of memory, a 30MB hard disk, and a VGA monitor should be sufficient. If you select a multitasking, object oriented language that supports multiple inheritance and has a built-in GUI, writing the program will be a snap. (Imagine the difficulty we would have had if we had foolishly allowed a hardware-first design strategy to lock us into a four-bit microcontroller!)."

    The king wisely had the computer scientist beheaded, and they all lived happily ever after.
     
    Ind spark and bright_Spark like this.
  2. bright_Spark

    bright_Spark Screwfix Select

    Beheading may be a tad extreme but certainly a spell in the stocks having rotten fruit thrown at them may well be an appropriate wake up call to some electricians.
     
    Ind spark likes this.
  3. Comlec

    Comlec Screwfix Select

    The original version had the computer scientist into the lake.
     
  4. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    Surge Protection is a requirement.

    And it’s what the original question is about.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2023
  5. Ind spark

    Ind spark Screwfix Select

    Not really, he said he was going to fit surge at the origin, but then said his real question is about To TT or not to TT.
     
  6. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    Read the question again ;)
     
  7. Ind spark

    Ind spark Screwfix Select

    Oh yeah ok:oops: so the answer is yes fit an SPD.
     
  8. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    Which is made more complicated by it being a remote building with EV charging facilities, etc.
     
    Ind spark likes this.
  9. Ind spark

    Ind spark Screwfix Select

    Nothings ever simple is it.
     
  10. bright_Spark

    bright_Spark Screwfix Select

    It is if you want it to be, I find putting my fingers in my ears and singing loudly sorts out loads of electrical problems
     
    Ind spark likes this.
  11. Ind spark

    Ind spark Screwfix Select

    Sounds like a plan.
     
  12. bright_Spark

    bright_Spark Screwfix Select

    Its the future, try it and you will be soon joining the Milwaukee crew
     
    Ind spark likes this.
  13. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    All that glitters is not gold ;)
     
  14. Sparkielev

    Sparkielev Screwfix Select

    This is a job for a guy with a big pack out
     
    Ind spark likes this.
  15. adgjl

    adgjl Screwfix Select

    If it glitters, it is probably metal deposits from having already gone bang!
     
  16. bright_Spark

    bright_Spark Screwfix Select

    too right sister
     
  17. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    Team Magpie, all attracted by bright and shiny things.
     
  18. bright_Spark

    bright_Spark Screwfix Select

    I detect a little Milwaukee jealousy creeping in here.
     
    Ind spark likes this.
  19. Ind spark

    Ind spark Screwfix Select

    I think if you bought one you would be an even happier builder;)
     
  20. bright_Spark

    bright_Spark Screwfix Select

    An ecstatic one
     
    Ind spark likes this.

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