Why did/would you switch current accounts?

masonic

kaMelo said:

masonic said:

kaMelo said:

Eco_Miser said:

kaMelo said:

I prefer the Linux philosophy, "Do one thing, do it well" as opposed to multitasking. Multitask = Multifail.

And yet Linux is a multitasking system.

The "Do one thing well" philosophy refers to having a multitude of little programs each doing one thing well, all running together under a multitasking OS, rather than one big program trying to do everything.

And yet it has Emacs.

Yes, like a conductor (the OS) of an orchestra (individual programmes) it works well.

If the conductor was trying to conduct whilst playing the violin and the trombone at the same time it wouldn't end well.

A common misconception about multitasking is that it involves completing tasks completely synchronously. Even in the realms of IT, multitasking normally involves switching between tasks. The conductor argument you are trying to make is specious, because although modern computers have multiple CPU cores, each core will be rapidly switching between processes, so the CPU is a prime example of a processor that does lots of different things at the same time effectively. Humans aren't as good as machines at task-switching, but it's perfectly possible for an unimpaired human mind to switch back and forth between simple activities without material impact, especially if one of those tasks involves periods of time where the human would otherwise be waiting if focused solely on one activity. For example, I wrote this post while frying some onions.

You are misunderstanding my points or more likely I'm not explaining them very well. 
To use your CPU analogy, a CPU does many things at the same time in an overarching way, multi tasking if you like, but each core is only ever doing one task at a time. It switches between tasks running concurrently in an efficient manner with no down time and in reality the CPU cache would make running multiple tasks faster than individually run tasks but the bottom line is each CPU core, not unlike a human, can do many things in parallel but only ever one thing at once.
Frying onions whilst writing your post is a perfect example of running tasks in parallel, switching between them.

I think we are in agreement that when people refer to multitasking, they actually mean switching between multiple tasks carried out in parallel. I don't think anyone was using the term in a different fashion, so I'm not sure where the notion that it meant something different has come from. In relation to people, there has been a bit of a movement against it, which is well intentioned - there are certainly things people do need to focus on in order to do efficiently, but simple things like frying onions, filling out a CASS switching form, or waiting on hold on the telephone, do not require one's undivided attention.