[jonasmerlin]

"I think it's quite well known that on a 64-bit system, the maximum bit-width of a virtual address is somewhat lower (commonly 48-bits)." might actually be a perfect example of the Average Framiliarity xkcd[0]. It's perfectly fine to write it that way and the article obviously knows its intended audience. But I'm wondering what percentage of readers here actually knew this beforehand. (I learned it only pretty recently myself. And yes, I should have known this sooner, but ... didn't.)

[0] https://xkcd.com/2501/

[asb]

Article author here. Thanks for calling that out - the intent wasn't to make readers who might not have been aware feel bad. It really came from my worry about being seen to write about something that is trivial and everyone knows already!

Perhaps I'd be better just dropping "I think it's quite well known that"?

[jonasmerlin]

Hey! First of all: don't worry, it didn't make me feel bad–don't know about others though, of course. And I really meant what I said: I think you knew your (originally) intended audience, and there, the percentage of people is almost certainly quite a lot higher than among general HN readership. I just really like that comic and immediately had to think of it when I read that sentence. (And it's only made funnier by your intention, it really shows how true to life the comic actually is!)

But I think there is a good, general argument to be made against these kinds of sentences. I don't think anyone would ever blame you for writing about a well known thing, while at the same time there is a chance of needlessly making people feel bad.

BUT I also think that with the right "mindset", these kinds of sentences can be a good indicator to readers about what is considered essential, common knowledge among a certain group of people.

So ... I don't think you need to remove it, but wouldn't say it's bad if you did. Sorry for the long winded way of saying basically nothing.

Cool article btw.!

[asb]

I've tweaked the wording - thanks again!

[amelius]

There might be (future) 64 bit systems for which it doesn't hold. So maybe replace "well known" by "widely assumed".