Big Iron and Bare Metal: PHP Lessons from Cold War Supercomputing

gistfile1.txt

EDIT: Changed title/description again, description is 470 of 500 available chars.

Title: Big Iron and Bare Metal: PHP Lessons from Cold War Supercomputing
Type: Regular (1 hour including Q&A)

Description:
The original CRAY-1 Supercomputer was a 5-ton monster with just 8 MB of main
memory, yet programming it can be a fun way to explore subtleties of
PHP coding.

In this talk, we'll indulge in programming "big iron" on "bare metal." We'll
look at CRAY-1 hardware instructions with the aim of understanding logic
operations, boolean algebra, and octal arithmetic. I've carried CRAY-1 logic
design to both MySQL table design and PHP coding. After this talk, you will
as well.

Additional Information:
I am a new PHP speaker. However, I used to teach Cray Supercomputer operating
system internals (assembly and octal) as Senior Instructor for Cray Research
Software Training.

To whomever reviews this gist: My sincere thanks.

This is amazing.

The only small point I would suggest is to mention that there will be take away knowledge that you can use back in your real job (if that's the case).

Here's a slightly tighter version:

The original CRAY-1 Supercomputer was a 5-ton monster with just 8 MB of main
memory, yet programming it can be a fun way to explore subtleties of
PHP coding. In this talk, we'll look at CRAY-1 hardware instructions with
the aim of understanding logic operations, boolean algebra, and octal arithmetic.
I've carried CRAY-1 logic design to both MySQL table design and PHP coding.
After this talk, so will you.

I think @assertchris has spoken on similar topics and might be able to speak to further improvements on this abstract. Overall, though, it's a talk I'd like to attend myself. Nice work. 👍

I feel like the sentence "We combine Boolean Algebra with octal arithmetic." is missing something -- "We combine ... to ___"? "By combining ... we ___"?

Similarly, you might reword the start of the second paragraph with a bit more focus on how it applies to the audience's needs -- perhaps like "This talk takes a look back to the era of "big iron" and "bare metal." By examining CRAY-1 hardware instructions, you can gain a deeper understanding of the principles of boolean logic and efficient software design, which can improve the [readability? performance?] of your PHP!"

Even as it stands, though, this is a talk that I'd love to see! Will it be recorded?

E. Dunham, The proposal is to PHP World, and I believe they take the option of recording talks. At the very least I'll have a slide deck with voice-over for practice purposes. I'll get that to you personally if no recording is available. I also have a module from the last CRAY-1 ever made that I should be able to pass around during the talk :)