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From: gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: sys & lang standardization?
Message-ID: <4200046@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 21 Nov 90 06:52:00 GMT
Lines: 15
Nf-ID: #R:<obEuQP200VAC01XuVn@andrew.cmu.e:-35:m.cs.uiuc.edu:4200046:000:636
Nf-From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Nov 21 00:52:00 1990


Think of computer languages as similar to spoken languages.
Individual spoken languages cannot be standardized, but their
evolution can be slowed (through mechanisms like books on syntax,
dictionaries, etc).

Individual operating systems should not be standardized, since we are
still struggling to generalize them to new environments (networks,
real-time systems, parallel processing, etc).


If we don't do something soon about the complexity of programmer
interfaces to windowing systems, then this area will have to be
standardized since the complexity and learning necessary to take full
advantage of these interfaces is enormous.