What you get when my brain crashes…

Where’s the Stick Shift Gone?

It’s time to revisit a popular topic around here - the old “manual vs. automatic” argument.

If you follow - well, actually, let’s just be honest here and say “obsess” - over cars, you might have noticed a trend in regards to what transmissions are available on new cars these days. And that trend is that traditional, “proper” manual transmissions are increasingly rare - especially in bigger, sportier cars. (Think: BMW, Audi, etc.)

(Just to be clear, I’m not going to talk about “luxury” cars here - those have almost always been exclusively automatic, and with good reason, so let’s just cut them out of the discussion for now, OK?)

What seems to be replacing our beloved manual transmission these days is something that the folks on Top Gear call a “flappy-paddle gearbox.” You’ve probably seen them in car ads by now - those little, well, “flappy” paddles on the steering wheel (or the steering column, if the car is badly designed) that change gears for you. Once only exclusively found on super-expensive “supercars,” you can now find them on things like the Mitsubishi Lancer (or the new Outlander - alas!).

I have mixed feelings about these sorts of transmissions - not the least of which is because the presence of the paddles says absolutely nothing about what type of transmission is really “under the hood.” And that seems kind of… gimmicky to me.

It is worth noting that paddle shifters originally came from the world of high-speed racing - when you’re going 300 MPH and the next driver is 3 inches from your bumper, taking your hand off the wheel to shift can be… problematic. When you’re shifting gears while trying to find a parking space at your local shopping mall it’s… less so. (I’ve heard that paddle shifters, although arguably cool and good for racing on a track, are less than optimal for “around-town” type driving - and can in fact be quite infuriating in those instances!)

To further muddle things, paddle shifters might be connected to a normal automatic gearbox, and might function the same way as the “manu-matic” or “sport-tronic” transmissions that were so popular for a time. The only difference is that instead of shifting the gear lever into a little “gate” and pushing it up or down to change gears, you do it instead with the little paddles on the steering wheel.

On the other hand, those paddle shifters might be connected to a very crazy thing sometimes called a “clutchless manual transmission.” This is almost exactly what it sounds like - a manual transmission that just doesn’t have a clutch… or, well, a clutch pedal, anyway. Internally there is (usually) still a real clutch, which is controlled by the car’s computer, but otherwise it functions just like a normal manual transmission (in theory, anyway).

As you’d expect, these fancy transmissions are (generally) only found on very expensive cars. They may very well be “the way of the future, ” but I don’t think they’re here yet, and I don’t think they will be for some time. These sorts of systems are quite complex, which of course is just a fancy way of saying they have lots of ways to break down. And aside from fact that the car’s computer is capable of shifting gears much faster and very much more consistently, there’s really no advantage to it. I mean, if you’re going to have all that mechanical, technical, and electronic hoo-ha, why not just… get an automatic? Or, better still, just get a traditional manual?

Perhaps it’s because many cars with these sorts of systems are - well, let’s be honest, quite expensive, or at least more “status symbol” than “mode of transportation.” Rather than being for practical purposes, these fancy new transmissions are really just there for show, or at least so that the 60-year old retired CEO or whatever who’s driving the car (with the arthritic leg) can still drive like an idiot (and talk on his - or her, to be fair - cell phone, no doubt) in a $100,000+ car without having to dilly-dally with all the bother of actually controlling the gear change in the car. Because that would be too much like… “driving.” But I digress.

Automatic transmissions are getting much better these days - but until there is a deep, fundamental change in the method that automatic transmissions use to change gear ratios for the car’s drive train, they are still going to have the same fundamental drawbacks (more or less) - sluggish gear changes, less efficiency, and greater costs. Obviously, some automatic transmissions will be better than others on any of these things, but they’ll all suffer them, to a greater or lesser degree.

There is one bright ray of hope, however! With gasoline prices going up like they are, smaller cars - especially fuel-efficient 4-cylinder cars - are becoming quite popular again. And there’s no doubt about it - a manual transmission allows you to make the best use of a smaller, weaker engine. So there’s some good news. Of course, on the other hand, for ultimate fuel efficiency, car makers are turning more and more to something called CVT - that’s Continously Variable Transmission, in case you were wondering. This is actually a really exciting technology - no more gears, just a continous, practically “infinite” range of drive ratios, automatically selectable without any disconnection of the car’s drive train. (The Wikipedia article I’ve linked to is particularly instructive.)

The downside, of course, is that current technology limits the amount of power (torque, in particular) that can be sent through a CVT - making it generally only acceptable for smaller, lower-power cars. And lots of people find the lack of “lurch” - as in when the gears change (automatic or manual) - disconcerning, so some manufacturers actually take steps to make the car still “lurch” preceptively at intervals. Weird, I know. But of course as in all things, technology will improve - so maybe in the future we’ll all be driving cars with CVTs? (Assuming we’re not driving “flying” cars… I’m waiting for that day, but I won’t hold my breath.)

So what’s a tripedalist to do? Well, I think it is safe to say that the stick shift will never completely dissapear - after all, there will always be a place for a simple, efficient, manual transmission in cars of many different types (sports cars, small cars, and certain types of big trucks). But things like “flappy paddle” shifters are more likely to show up - and to be the only available option - on more and more cars. So the best thing we can do is vote with our wallets - if you like driving a stick shift (and why wouldn’t you?), buy a stick shift, even if it’s not quite the car you’d like. (Or use your own discretion - after all, you’re the one driving it!)

If you’re one of those people who’s not lamenting the gradual dissapearance of the stick shift in today’s cars, well, I guess you can break out the cake and celebrate. If a car to you is just a “thing” to get you from point A to point B, where there’s a lot of traffic in between (or long stretches of open highway with no curves/stops), all I can say is… enjoy your automatic.

As for me - I’ll be driving stick, and I’ll be quite happy with it, thank you very much! Long live the stick shift!

Desktop Madness Vol. 41

Whenever I see these wallpapers, I just hear the music in my head… “KATAMARI DAMACY!!!!!!!”

Quite possibly the weirdest game I’ve ever played - and at the same time, the most addictive and fun.

Oh, and if you have the chance - get the soundtrack to this game. It’s GREAT.

Horsepower and Torque

We’re thinking about getting a second car - Yay!

We’ve been looking rather longingly at the Mazda3 5-door. But when I look at the numbers, I get a little… confused.

Take a look for a moment at those numbers. Notice anything… odd? The Mazda has a slightly smaller engine… yet it develops more peak horsepower! How can this be?

And look at those torque numbers… the Outlander develops more torque at lower RPMs. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a graph of horsepower and torque curves, so we can’t compare them like that, but still, it makes you wonder.

We’ve taken the Mazda3 for a test drive - it’s definately a spunky little car with lots of “get up and go.” Moreso, I dare say, than my beloved Outlander. And yet… those torque numbers continue to befuddle me.

Horsepower vs. Torque

Horsepower and torque are confusing ideas - we all tend to think we understand them, but when you look at their definitions, you can’t help but feel a little confused. We often tend to think of more horsepower as good, because it makes the car faster, right? Well, horsepower is “work done over time.” Now try to work out in your head how being able to do “more work done over time” makes your car faster.

Same thing for torque - which few people even pay attention to. Torque is just rotational force - which gets really confusing when you realize that even if something is not rotating, it can still have torque! For example, when you try to turn a stuck bolt, you’re applying torque - even if the bolt isn’t turning.

Given that, you’d think that torque would be a very important number for cars - more turning force seems to imply that you could turn the wheels faster, right? Well, yes and no. You see, it’s not just raw turning force - you’ve got to consider that your car produces different amounts of torque at different engine speeds (RPM), and then you’ve got the gear ratio to consider (different for each gear your in, plus the gear ratio of your drive train). If you’re a casual car buyer, trying to figure all this out can give you a major migraine.

There’s got to be an easier, more objective way to measure things, right?

Power to Weight Ratios

Looking back on the Outlander vs. Mazda3 chart, I realized that it may just be the weight numbers that are throwing off my perceptions - the Outlander is quite a bit heaveier, due in no small part to it’s (fantastic) all-wheel-drive system. So how can we compare?

A little bit of digging on the subject turns up the term “power to weight ratio.” Ahhhh, here’s what we’re looking for!

Ah, now that’s a bit better. We’re still ignoring the final drive ratio (produced by the drive train, etc.), but this is much better for comparing power “at a glance.” And now we can see why the Mazda3 feels “zippier” - it’s power/weight ratio is a bit higher than the Outlander’s.

Of course, this reveals another anomaly - the Mazda’s HP/weight ratio is higher than it’s torque/weight ratio, while with the Outlander the opposite is true. But it’s not really much of an anomoly if you look at the rated towing capacity of the two cars - the Outlander is rated to pull (much) more than the Mazda.

So there you have it - the means to (somewhat) objectively compare horsepower and torque ratings between cars, so as to get a sense for their performance. It’s not the total picture, and of course you should still drive a car before you buy it, but perhaps this will help you narrow down your choices (as it sort of did with me).

Desktop Madness Vol. 40

If you need to protect yourself from Van Eck phreaking, this wallpaper may be for you.

Animated Code Background

If it’s not clear to you why this would be helpful, then you may need to click on the image above to see it full size.

Of course, this may end up giving you seizures… so use with caution. Enjoy!

10 Tips for New Programmers

It occurred to me the other day that I’ve been doing this stuff (programming) for more than a few years now - most of them in a very much “professional” manner. So I guess that makes me qualified to come up with lists like this!

1. Learn the machine. Build yourself a computer. Understand how the CPU, memory, and IO work. Even if you forget it all tomorrow, you’ll have at least a rough understanding - trust me, it’s important.
2. Everything you know is wrong. Well, not really, but you need to act like it is. Always go back and look at your code with a critical eye - as if it was written by someone else, if that helps - and imagine that you just know there’s something wrong with it, something terribly, terribly wrong, and it’s your mission to find it. Your code will be better because of this sort of attitude.
3. Communication is key. Coding is basically communicating with a very dumb machine (the computer). You have to give it very, very precise instructions, being very careful to tell it exactly, precisely what you want it to do. The mark of a good programmer is someone who can commune with the computer on an almost instinctual level. But it’s equally important to be able to talk to real, live people in just as effective a manner. So don’t neglect that “speech” class that they make you take in college!
4. Everything you’ve done is junk (a corollary to “everything you know is wrong”). Be humble. Learn from your mistakes. Because you will make them.
5. Doublethink can be your friend. Being a really god programmer means walking a fine mental line between being totally confident in what you’re doing - you think that Bill Gates will show up at any given moment to kiss the ground you’re walking on, that’s how good you are - and simultaneously thinking of your work as the worst possible junk that looks like it was hammed out by a bunch of monkeys banging randomly on keyboards.
6. 99% of the time, it’s been done before. Otherwise known as “be a lazy programmer.” Take advantage of work that’s been done before - unless you really want to learn how it’s done, in which case you should re-write it on your own, get it to work, and then throw it out and use the pre-made code instead. Humility AND experience, all in one deft stroke!
7. Be multi-lingual. You don’t need to be able to write an OS from scratch in x86 assembly or anything, but being able to at least read other languages is a great asset - especially since so much of the 99% of code that’s already been written (see #6 above) has probably been written in a different language from the one you’re using right now.
8. Always think of yourself as a student. Programming languages grow and there is always something more to learn, so always think of yourself as a student, and never let go of that feeling.
9. Know your tools - but don’t be held hostage by them. Experiment with different IDEs. Try a different code editor. Yes, we all love auto-complete and Intellisense, but you should at least not be completely helpless without it.
10. Learn and use source control. Hey, you knew I had to squeeze this in here. There’s just no excuse for not using some form of source control, no matter how small your project is - even if it’s just a little side project you’re doing for nobody but yourself. Subversion is free, and so is the great client TortoiseSVN. They’re both available for Windows and Linux, so you have no excuse for not using them.

Well, there you have it. If you’re a new programmer, hopefully these tips will be helpful to you - goodness knows I wish I had known them all when I started out.

Enjoy!