Re: Hardware Jargon

mm0fmf <none@invalid.com> writes:

On 17/06/2025 10:06, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

This interview
<https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ssds/smi-ceo-says-no-pcie-6-0-ssds-for-pc-until-2030-as-nvidia-demands-100m-iops-wallace-c-kou-on-the-future-of-ssds>
with the boss of a company that sells a range of low-level hardware
components had my head spinning in places. Spot the terms and acronyms
that are unknown to a software type like me. ;)
Here’s a word that had me baffled for a while: “retimer”. I couldn’t
imagine what that was. My undergrad science background jumped to the
conclusion that it rhymed with “polymer”, and that it might be some
kind of chemical compound or biological cellular component. But no, it
is a “re-timer”, which is a component used to extend the reach of the
new PCIe 6.0 spec.

>
If you don't work in the industry you wont know what the terms
mean. Retimers have been around a long time. It all depends if you
move in a world where they get used.

It's also the case that vocabulary sort of evolves even though no
meaningful changes take place in an area.  In the beginning of the
development of a certain area, people still use old words to describe
some new thing---but over time, that new thing becomes old and people do
come up with words and slang for it.

For one's self education, I think avoiding these terms to oneself
happens to be a good thing---computer tools such as search engines and
whatnot actually help us quite a bit in taking in the crowd's lingo.
But I don't find it too useful to quickly incorporate all the new lingo
into one's own vocabulary---the burden on the mind is heavier.  Despite
what people do in practice with their own vocabulary, simplicity
actually works in our favor.  (On average, after you look up a term two
or three times, you internalize it.)