[Linux-aus] contest proposal

[Russell Coker]

On Monday, 1 January 2024 17:17:14 AEDT Nathan Bailey via linux-aus wrote:
> I like this idea. In the early days of IT, optimisation for hardware seemed
> a waste of time in the light of Moore's Law. But we continue to deploy to
> smaller form factors (smart watches, smart rings, smart water bottles,
> ...), so I think there is merit in looking at RAM/disk/CPU-based
> optimisations.

I think we have always had such issues.  I recall talk of an 8088 port of 
Linux for some low end use.

> In terms of "wasted effort" - some IT-capable people aren't skilled or
> experienced enough to tackle deeper IT problems, but "shallow"
> optimisations like those suggested by Peter Moulding are the kinds of
> solutions that interns, undergrads or even non-traditional IT people could
> explore.

I think that "we have this specific problem so lets find an optimisation that 
will just deal with it" can be a really hard problem to solve, much harder 
than "find some random case for optimisation that matches your skills".

Some of these problems are really hard.  I mentioned a hypothetical example of 
saving a few words for a window control, the code for that is really difficult 
to dig into.  I have idly looked into the KDE code when Plasmashell and kwin 
were crashing on me and gave it up as too hard.

> And winning a prize for successfully delivering a significant optimisation
> could be a real differentiator for those looking to land a job (or
> promotion), and a fun recognition for those just doing it as something on
> the side.

Absolutely.

> Russell - how would you propose this being structured? (ie. who assesses
> using what criteria in what timeframe?)

We aren't judging the Olynpics here, we don't need a gold medal and extremely 
accurate measurements of the results.  Just pick a bunch of results that look 
good and award trophies and maybe pick a bunch more for merit awards without 
traphies.  Just get a bunch of the people who frequently give lectures at LCA 
and similar conferences to quickly look at the submissions and have a rough 
consensus.  Also if submissions are early enough the upstream projects can 
assess them, EG if I reviewed a patch related to SE Linux and judged it to be 
good you could move straight to the issue of merit or trophy.

Maybe have a rule of people above a certain level of fame in the community 
aren't eligible for trophies but for merit awards.

> PS: Also, nationally/internationally-selected prizes are a great way to get
> press attention if developing a higher profile for LA/LCA is desirable...

I don't know if it will give more attention to EO, but it will definitely have 
the potential of giving more attention to people in the early stages of their 
careers.

-- 
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