Real Work Personal Commentary6/5/2000; 7:15:12 AM April 16, 2000: I don't know why exactly, but I was thinking about my grandparents and what they think of my education in computer science.I was thinking of how to explain to them why what I do is hard enough to justify an education and that money they hear so much about. And I started wondering... if you could add up all of the person-hours spent on the processes invoked when you viewed this web page... from the web-browser and network connection you're using down to the silicon itself... how would that compare to the person-hours spent preparing for the invasion of Normandy, which I believe is still the largest military exercise ever (correction invited). My guess would be that the web-page view would be at least an order of magnitude greater, if not two or three. A bold claim, and I can't back it up. But who knows?(If you know enough to consider the question, draw the "technology tree" sometime that has everything necessary to create a web browser and a network to use it on. Don't forget the routers, the concept of a Turing machine, compilers, hardware, time to learn how to optimize the hardware, AND gates, OR gates, XOR gates, pipelines, caching, hard drives, RAM, fiber optics, modems/network, protocols, standarization, display technology, the science behind all of this stuff, input technology, time to test the technology, the list just goes on.)It's not that this is some startling revelation... but I think we should step back and think about how we got where we are sometimes. When I hit "Post Changes", how many millions of person-hours will I benefit from?If I have been able to see further than others, It is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. - Sir Isaac Newton