Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!mcnc!ncsuvx!news From: kdarling@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer Subject: Re: How do we change the scheduler? (Was Re: Multitasking at home...) Message-ID: <1991Jan10.220704.8356@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> Date: 10 Jan 91 22:07:04 GMT References: <17210@cbmvax.commodore. <1991Jan10.130741.11570@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Sender: news@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (USENET News System) Organization: NCSU Computing Center Lines: 22 burley@geech.ai.mit.edu (Craig Burley) and others write: [tons and tons of good stuff deleted, aren't y'all glad? The gist is --] > True multitasking, as I believe it is defined, means preemptive scheduling. I think the main argument is about using "true" versus "preemptive". Cutting to the core, I suspect that people latch onto "true" because a) they have no idea what preemptive means, and/or b) it's a lot easier to say and not explain... plus it just sounds "superior" as a bonus prize. And if magazine authors use it, you _know_ the word has been corrupted :-). "True" might be relative to the OS you like. "Preemptive" is much more concrete a term, I'd think (altho I've seen wars over that, too!)... and therefore is preferable to use when sorting out differences in this case. Once you start using words like "true", then you could open up other cheap war topics; such as (thinking quickly...ummm) Are the Amiga custom DMA chips really "true coprocessors"? If so, can an IBM user claim to have coprocessors in his keyboard and SCSI port? And where do you fit in the Mac-II 6502 coprocessors? Are they truer? Falser? Ad nauseum. Think of the claim "I'm a true American patriot and you're not." Such wording only causes trouble. cheers - kev