Which dev skills have the longest shelf-life?

[d000hg]

Ah, I remember using fixed point in software 3D renderers because integer math was so much faster.

[nomadd]

Ah, I remember using fixed point in software 3D renderers because integer math was so much faster.

From Mike Abrash (one of the iD gods with Carmack) from way back in the day:

In fact, when I tested out the integer edge tracing code by comparing an integer-based test image to one produced by floating-point calculations, two pixels out of the whole screen differed, leading me to suspect a bug in the integer code. It turned out, however, that’s in those two cases, the floating point results were sufficiently imprecise to creep from just under an integer value to just over it, so that the ceil function returned a coordinate that was one too large. Floating point is very accurate—but it is not precise. Integer calculations, properly performed, are.

[SupremeSpod]

Ah, I remember using fixed point in software 3D renderers because integer math was so much faster.

God bless you Bresenham!

And then I got an 8087.

And then I got an NVIDIA Graphics card.

And now I've got a Raspberry Pi - God Bless you Bresenham!

[VectraMan]

Ah, I remember using fixed point in software 3D renderers because integer math was so much faster.

I'm still hoping binary coded decimal will come back into fashion.

[doodab]

Ah, I remember using fixed point in software 3D renderers because integer math was so much faster.

A surprising amount of audio DSP code is still fixed point.

[Gentile]

Which dev skills have the longest shelf-life?

Intelligence, and skin thick enough to withstand all the BS thrown at you. Those qualities and Minesweeper are the key skills. Oh, and being able to drink toxic levels of caffeine with no apparent ill effects.

[d000hg]

God bless you Bresenham!

And then I got an 8087.

And then I got an NVIDIA Graphics card.

And now I've got a Raspberry Pi - God Bless you Bresenham!

float ops were still slower even on a 486. Maybe even on the original Pentium but I moved on from software 3D around that time.

[nomadd]

Intelligence, and skin thick enough to withstand all the BS thrown at you. Those qualities and Minesweeper are the key skills. Oh, and being able to drink toxic levels of caffeine with no apparent ill effects.

You missed 'the ability to browse the web and post on internet forums all day' as a key skill.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

I've been doing SQL since 1999 and pretty much pure SQL Server for the past 8 years
Barely had 3 months out of work/contract in that time

SQL, .NET and the BI tools are in very high demand. Just got a call from an agent looking for a contractor with those skills and really struggling. Rate was decent but not amazing.

[rsingh]

SQL, .NET and the BI tools are in very high demand. Just got a call from an agent looking for a contractor with those skills and really struggling. Rate was decent but not amazing.

What was the rate and location if you don't mind me asking?