/tech-progress-data

Data on the technological process of microprocessors, networks, telescopes, etc.

Primary LanguagePythonMIT LicenseMIT

The data behind Moore's law

Data & graphs on the progress of technology; visualizing the road to the singularity™

This repository collates and visualizes data sets which demonstrate the increasing trends of computing power, storage capacity, astronomical surveys, etc. The aim of these graphs is to encourage discussions related to Moore's law to be based on data, rather than assumptions or hear-say.

The various sources behind the data points are documented inside the data directory of this repository, and the graphs can be reproduced using the included plot_progress.py script.

The Graphs

Computing power

Supercomputer speeds double every 13 months

CPU transistor counts double every 23 months

Storage & I/O

Internet speeds double every 16 months

Storage-per-dollar ratios double every 23 months

Storage bus speeds double every 35 months

Astronomical surveys

Pixel rates of near-infrared astronomy surveys double every 41 months

Pixel rates of optical astronomical surveys double every 41 months

Biology

The cranial capacity of humans doubles every 1.5 million years

Slides

A short presentation using these data is shown here:

https://speakerdeck.com/barentsen/a-3-minute-rant-on-the-deluge-of-data-in-astronomy

Usage

To create the graphs and fit the exponential trends to all the data sets in this repository, run:

python plot_progress.py

Dependencies

  • matplotlib
  • numpy
  • astropy

Contributing

Additional data sets, or corrections to the existing ones, are welcome. Please open a pull request!

Authors

  • Geert Barentsen (@barentsen)
  • Josh Peek (@jegpeek)
  • See the README files in the sub-directories under data for data source credits.

License

Made available under the MIT License, unless otherwise specified in the README files inside the data sub-directories.