[neltnerb]

Really... I wonder what the spare cycles are doing, whether it's truly waste and bad coding or if it's doing some kind of sophisticated predictive algorithms that we're unaware of. I do try to assume engineers did something smart, maybe there's a good reason...

I really hope the reason isn't "so we could run the mainline linux kernel" or "because we needed a RTOS" or something similarly bloated.

[sgtnoodle]

There is tons of human value in doing things good enough rather than perfect.

Why implement quicksort when bubble sort will give you the result you need just as "instantly" and be easier to verify?

Why bother procedurally iterating line by line through a 1GB of text in python, when you can call f.read().split("\n") inside a list comprehension and probably have it run just as fast because you have a 64-bit 4Ghz superscalered mmxzomg Inteliapple CPU and 32GB of RAM.

Often times, the bloat is an intentional tradeoff to make something else better. More accurate code, more readable code, more configurable code, etc. Other times, it really is just bloated, more terrible code; even that has some value, if it meant that someone was able to contribute a useful feature that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to due to lack of skill or domain specific knowledge.

[neltnerb]

Ah, I would have thought it was more like "feedback loop" going to "feedback loop with DSP" going to "feedback loop with DSP with wireless" or similar.

I think I am thinking more specifically about the flight feedback example compared to what you are describing, but I'm definitely all for using cheap powerful ARM chips in place of obsolete stuff. I'm just hoping that most of that spare computing power was used for something cool and not just spinning the wheels.

[elcritch]

Often spare cycles can be used to sleep the cpu for longer cpu intervals and save power. Faster processors are often more efficient per watt, which can save a bit of power.

[snovv_crash]

More advanced DSP takes more cycles. Eg moving from fixed low-pass filters to motor-rpm-following-notch filters gives lower phase delay, but requires getting telemetry from motors, running multiple harmonic notch filters on each channel. Supporting a wider range of protocols and peripherals takes more flash space. And eventually, when it gets complicated enough that you can't enforce deadlines everywhere, yes, you need an RTOS.